There is No Questhelper in Real Life
by Chellerbelle
Summary: Jumping on point for the "Thieves Guild" series, occurs during "King of Thieves". The X-men and the Brotherhood had murders to avenge; a wedding, investigations, and rescue missions to attend; a mother to find; and World of Warcraft to play.
1. Chapter 1

**There is No Questhelper in Real Life**

**AN: **

This story is a "jumping on point" for the _Thieves Guild_ series. If you haven't read any of the previous stories, that's okay, you'll still be able to follow this one, no problem. This story begins partway through _King of Thieves_. Rogue and Gambit will make occasional appearances in the story, but for the first time ever, they're not actually the stars of one of my stories. I know, it's shocking.

There will be regular references to _World of Warcraft_. As always, I will do my best to ensure that those who are not familiar with the game do not get confused. For those who _are_ familiar with WoW, this story occurs prior to the Cataclysm expansion pack. Finally, it should be noted that I'm an altaholic, I've only used Vent once, and I haven't played any endgame instances or raids. I apologise in advance for any mistakes.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

The blue smoke cleared and Kurt found himself standing outside of the gates to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. The school had certainly changed since he had last been there over five years ago now. In addition to the mansion itself, there were a number of additional buildings: more dormitories and classrooms, he supposed. Kurt rang the bell with some satisfaction of teleporting just within arm's reach of it.

_"Hi Kurt," _came Storm's voice down the line, _"just let yourself in."_

Kurt chuckled and teleported onto the grounds and to the front door. He was about to open it, when Storm opened it for him.

"Kurt," she said warmly as he put down his bag.

"Hi Storm," Kurt replied, and gave her a hug. "It's good to see you."

"It's good to see you too," Storm replied. "I'm glad you've come to join us, but you were...a little mysterious over the phone."

Kurt chuckled lightly and picked up his bag again once they were done hugging.

"I felt a little awkward discussing it over the phone," he told her. "Perhaps we can discuss it in private?"

"Of course," Storm replied, holding the door open for him. "Let me show you to your room."

"That would be appreciated," Kurt said, following her inside.

"How was the flight?" Storm asked as she closed the door, and then led him up the stairs.

"It was a flight, I suppose," Kurt replied. "The hardest part was getting through customs and immigration. It always is."

"People give you a hard time, huh?" Storm asked.

"I keep trying to tell them if I really was a demon I'd appear to them as an angel of light," Kurt said, only half-joking. "Of course, nowadays I get 'mutie' just as often as I get 'demon'. It is tiresome, but when worse comes to worse, I can always teleport."

"I'm sorry. I should have offered to fly you here in the Blackbird," Storm said, frowning as they reached the door of Kurt's new room. "And this is your room."

Kurt looked inside and nodded as he put his bag down.

"Thank you," he said as Storm followed him into the room, "for both the room and the consideration, but I had already bought the ticket when I called. I planned on coming to America regardless."

"Oh?" Storm inquired, shutting the door gently behind her.

Kurt took a deep breath.

"When I went back to Germany, I spent some time with my family and the circus, and then I decided to join the priesthood. Although, I ended up spending more time in a monastery than I did in teaching a congregation."

"No one gave you any trouble about being a demon?" Storm asked.

"One or two were a little nervous," Kurt replied, "but they were all reasonable people, and contrary to what some people might say on TV, not all Christians believe that mutants are the spawn of Satan."

"Indeed."

"In any case, while I was at the monastery, I started having a visitor. He was a very strange visitor; he only ever showed up for a few minutes at a time, would make a few cryptic remarks and then leave. He only ever visited me when I was alone too. He called himself Azazel and claimed to be the devil. He claimed I was a demon too, but I didn't believe him any more than I have believed anyone else who called me the same thing," Kurt said. "Still, there was one thing he did tell me that I... I can't be certain, I suppose, but this one thing he said seemed to have the ring of truth."

Storm noticed Kurt hesitation and placed her hand gently on his shoulder. "It's okay. You don't have to tell me."

"No, I do," Kurt replied firmly. "You need to know my reason for coming here. He told me that my mother—my birth mother—was Mystique."

Storm caught her breath.

"I need to see her, Storm," Kurt went on. "I figured if there was any chance of that, my best option was to rejoin the X-men. We have the same skin and eye colour. It could just be coincidence, but I have to know for sure."

"Of course you do," Storm said. "But I'm afraid it's been a year since we last saw her. You may have heard about the Sentinels?"

"The what?" Kurt asked.

"Project Wideawake?"

"The name rings a bell..."

"Well, a year ago a private company released some giant mutant hunting robots," Storm said with a completely straight face. "Amongst other places, they attacked the school and kidnapped most of us. The company was also responsible for kidnapping many mutants who had previously gotten the 'cure' including Magneto."

Kurt nodded. "I'm sure the X-men had no problems saving the day."

"Actually," Storm said, "those of us who were captured ended up being brainwashed by a mutant with hypnotic powers; Mesmero. Except Kitty, who managed to escape. We were actually rescued by Kitty, the Brotherhood, Rogue, and an old friend of mine, Remy. And Mystique; she was looking to rescue Magneto, which she did, and they both left right after. We haven't seen either of them since."

Kurt shrugged. "You've still seen them more recently than I have."

Storm smiled. "I suppose we have." She then snapped her fingers. "We are in contact with the Brotherhood though—some of the younger X-men like to play this game called 'World of Warcraft' with some of the members of the Brotherhood. I can't say for certain, but they may know how to contact her."

"That would be great," Kurt said. "Even if they can't, they may be even more likely to see her than the X-men, and perhaps they could pass a message on."

"Anything is possible," Storm said. "Well, I'm sure that you'd like some time to rest and freshen up after your long trip. I'll leave you to it."

"Thank you."

* * *

><p>Later that day, Kurt joined everyone in the dining hall for dinner. There were some new faces at the adult tables, as well as some familiar ones. Since it had been so long Storm made a point of introducing and re-introducing Kurt to everyone:<p>

"Bobby, Piotr, Kitty, Jubilee, I'm sure you remember Logan," Storm said, gesturing to each on in turn. "This is Hank McCoy. Psylocke, Sam, Paige, and Tabitha."

"Of course, it is a pleasure," Kurt said as he sat down next to Storm.

"Hey, nice to see you again," Bobby said with a nod towards him. "So how was Germany?"

So Kurt chatted about catching up with his family, and spending time with the monastery, all the while thinking that someone was missing. It was getting towards the end of the meal that Kurt finally worked out who was missing.

"May I ask where Rogue is?" he inquired.

There was a short, awkward pause in response to that question at first, and then Logan brought in: "Rogue doesn't live here any more."

Bobby cleared his throat uncomfortably and Kitty became engrossed in the last few crumbs on her plate.

"Rogue left us a few years ago," Storm said. "There was a...disagreement."

"Disagreement?" Logan repeated, incensed at the understatement.

"Ahem," Storm said, determined not to make Bobby and Kitty pay for their indiscretions any more than they already had. "Rogue was one of the ones who took the 'cure' when it was available. It wore off, just like it did everyone else, and she now has control over her powers. She's also married to a friend of mine, Remy, and they're living in New Orleans. They had just their first child, a son, Olivier, only a week ago."

"Wow," Kurt said with a nod of his head. "Sounds like she's doing really well for herself."

"In a manner of speaking," Logan muttered, still not the slightest bit impressed about Rogue joining the Thieves Guild.

* * *

><p>It wasn't for another week or two that Kurt worked up the nerve to ask the younger X-men about contacting the Brotherhood about Mystique. He did feel a little awkward asking such a thing, especially when he hadn't seen them in years. He was also a little put off at first by Hank, whom he hadn't met before, as Hank had blue fur and yellow eyes. However, after some discreet conversation, Kurt found out that Hank's furry state was the result of him experimenting on himself, and not necessarily evidence that blue skin or fur and yellow eyes was a common mutation.<p>

Although Storm had warned Kurt that Hank, Bobby, Kitty, Jubilee, Piotr, Sam, and Tabitha, as well as a number of the students liked to play World of Warcraft, he hadn't entirely expected the computer room to be so full on the middle of a bright and sunny Saturday.

Kurt made his way over to Jubilee and watched over her shoulder for a moment. On the screen was a little creature with pink hair and wearing a little blue dress along with some other items that did not coordinate well at all. Blue light appeared in the little creature's hands and a bar appeared at the bottom. When the bar filled, a blue stream flew across the screen and hit some kind of big goat. Beside the little creature was a bigger, green-blue watery looking thing that kept pointing at the goat and send its own blue streaks at it.

"What's happening?" asked Kurt curiously.

"Ahh! Kurt!" Jubilee exclaimed as she jumped in her seat. "You scared me."

"Apologies," Kurt replied. "I didn't intend to."

"It's okay," Jubilee assured him. "We're playing World of Warcraft."

"That much I guessed," Kurt replied.

Jubilee pointed with her left hand at the pink-haired creature. "That's my gnome mage, and that's her pet water elemental. I'm farming Frosthorn Rams for Chilled Meat. I need some for this Dalaran cooking quest."

"Okay," Kurt replied slowly, not at all certain what that meant.

Jubilee giggled at the look on her face.

"It's okay if that means nothing to you," she said. "It's not really all that important unless you play. And I warn you, it's highly addictive."

"I consider myself warned," Kurt replied with a smile. "Ahem, so, Storm tells me you play this with some of the Brotherhood?"

"Oh, umm, yeah," Jubilee said. "Actually, they were the ones who got us into it. If I didn't know better, I'd say it was a scheme to keep us from spoiling their plans. But, y'know, they're just as addicted to it as we are. Only they play Horde."

"Huh?"

"Oh, sorry. There are two factions in WoW," Jubilee explained. "The Horde and the Alliance. The Horde have orcs and trolls, and taurens—which are like minotaurs—and the Forsaken—which are the undead—and blood elves. The Alliance have all the pretty and cute races; humans, dwarves, gnomies, night elves, oh, and the draenei, which are like...aliens or something. Anyway, the Brotherhood, and Rogue, and Remy like to play the Horde, while we play Alliance. And they also like to make fun of my gnome. Gnomes get no respect."

"I'm sorry to hear that?" Kurt replied uncertainly.

Jubilee sighed dramatically. "It's okay."

Kurt paused for a moment, and then said: "So, I was wondering, would you be able to contact them for me, and inquire if they happen to be in contact with Mystique at all?"

"Mystique?" Jubilee repeated, giving Kurt a curious look. "Why?"

"I need to ask her something," Kurt replied, feeling awkward. "It's, uhh, personal. Storm knows."

Kurt wasn't really sure he wanted to publicise his possible relationship to Mystique yet. Jubilee shrugged and then read for her headphones. "I'll see if anyone's on Vent."

"Vent?"

"Ventrillo. It some software we use for voice communicating over the net."

"I see."

Jubilee pulled on the headphone and opened up Ventrillo. Kurt noted a number of unusual names come up on the screen.

"Hey," Jubilee said in response to the chorus of greetings she got when she logged it.

_"It's a spy!" _John declared upon recognising her voice.

"Very funny," Jubilee replied. "And how is everyone today?"

_"I was great until an Ally scum decided to poke her nose in," _John said.

"Oh shush you," Jubilee said. "Wait, don't shush, you're probably the best person to ask."

_"Uh oh," _said Pietro. _"That sounds bad."_

"Ha, it's not really. John, do you happen to remember Kurt?" Jubilee asked.

_"You're going to have to give me more information than that," _John replied.

"Right, umm, blue guy, German accent, tail... I don't remember if you were there when—"

_"Oh! Kurt," _said John. _"Yeah, I remember him. That was right before I left to join these guys. What about him?"_

"Well, he's just come back to join us after living in a monastery for the last few years. He's a priest now," Jubilee replied. "He wants to know if you guys are in contact with Mystique at all?"

_"Mystique? Why?"_

"Says it's personal."

_"Well, I haven't seen her since the Sentinel thing," _ John said.

_"Neither," _said Wanda. _"As far as we know she's still hanging out with Magneto, and we have no idea where he is either. So, a priest huh? This Kurt guy... he wouldn't happen to be able to do weddings at all?"_

"Hang on, I'll ask him," Jubilee said, and then looked up at Kurt. "Hey, can you perform weddings? Pyro and Wanda—two of the Brotherhood—got engaged recently."

Kurt blinked in surprise at the question. "I can actually. Well, I can in Germany. I've only ever performed one ceremony though. I'm sure I could get my certification here."

"He says he is in Germany," Jubilee reported to Wanda. "He thinks he can get his certification here."

_"Great! Can you get him to check into it?" _Wanda asked. _"Call me racist, but I just love the idea of getting married by a fellow mutant."_

Jubilee giggled and relayed this to Kurt.

"By the way, Wanda," Jubilee said, only half-joking. "I already think you're racist, you terrorist you."

_"This makes me think,"_ said John. _"We should start telling racist human jokes. Let's see... How many humans does it take to change a light bulb?"_

"I don't know," Jubilee replied.

_"Hmm...it takes...three. One to hold the light bulb, and the other two to turn his legs."_

Jubilee giggled.

_"I think I've heard that one before," _said Dominic, _"only it was morons or something rather than humans."_

_"Morons, humans, same thing,"_ John replied cheerfully. _"Ooh! How many mutants does it take to change a light bulb?" _

_"How many?" _asked Dominic.

_"One, and he can do it from the next room," _John said.

"Actually, the answer is none," said Jubilee. "The mutant doesn't need to change the light bulb, she can generate her own light source."

Jubilee grinned at the laughter her response got. She almost didn't hear an exclamation from Kitty who was seated at the teacher's desk, and had the only computer with dual monitors.

"What?" Bobby asked, twisting around to see her. It wasn't a normal 'oh darn someone's killed my character again' exclamation.

"A mutant has been killed," Kitty reported. "A teenager was shot outside of her school multiple times in broad daylight. And whoever it was flung confetti afterwards."

"Omigod! That's horrible," Jubilee exclaimed.

_"What's horrible?" _John asked.

Jubilee filled them in quickly, and passed on the additional details Kitty had to report: The mutant had come out only a few months ago, but she had been shunned by everyone since. Her murderer had also spray painted '100' on the brick wall where he'd shot her. Wanda asked for a source of the report, and Kitty emailed her the link.

* * *

><p>The Brotherhood of Mutants stood outside of the school of the murdered mutant on Monday morning as the first bell rang. Pietro looked upon it with growing disdain. Beside him, Dominic donned his helmet, and the newly engaged Wanda and John stood hand in hand. Martinique "Mastermind" Jason stood slightly off to the side.<p>

"You know the best part?" said John. "I get to burn down the school. There are not too many people in this world who say they're going to burn the school down and actually get to do it. This is going to be great!"

"Just remember, we're not killing anyone," Wanda said firmly. "That would make us no better than them."

"Come on Wanda," Pietro complained. "Eye for an eye!"

"Kids are off-limits," Wanda said, glaring at him. "Adults, by all means, kids no."

"Bleeding heart," Mastermind said scornfully.

"Does that mean we can kill the teachers?" Dominic asked.

"Joy to the world, the school burned down," John sang merrily, "And alllll the teeeeachers too!"

"It's too early for Christmas Carols," Wanda said, "even butchered ones."

"The principal is de-e-ead," John continued singing blithely, "We shot him in the he-e-ead. And the Deputy too! We flushed her down the loo! Oh jo-oy! Oh jo-o-oy, the school burned down!"

"Finished now?" Wanda asked. "Or do you have another two verses?"

"Nope, I'm good," John replied. "Let's get this party started!"

"Finally," said Pietro. "Dom?"

Dominic spread out his arms and began to generate a seismic charge. When he felt the charge was large enough, he stamped his foot, and the ground trembled and rippled towards the main building of the school, tearing it up through the middle.

Wanda, John, and Pietro headed to the other buildings of the school to wreak their own kind of havoc. John took great pleasure in setting fires all the way through the science block. Wanda terrorised students and teachers through another block by using her hex bolts on the furniture, causing them to rise up. Wanda amused herself by having some of the chairs chase the students around. Pietro set off all the alarms, killed the electricity, turned on all the water, and stole all the clothes from the locker rooms, amongst a long list of other things.

It way mayhem as the students, teachers, and other staff made their way to the sports field outside. There were tears and panic, and people cursing about horrible mutants while all the building of the school were unearth, burned down, or otherwise destroyed. Once the majority were there, Mastermind took created a mass illusion wherein they were all hunted down and killed in horrific ways. Although those caught in the illusion felt like days, even weeks had passed, in real time it only lasted a few minutes. Mastermind broke it off when the rest of the Brotherhood joined her.

As the Brotherhood departed, their presence unnoticed, the school woke up from the illusion to find the football field littered with papers all announcing the same thing:

AN EYE FOR AN EYE!  
>We will not stand by and watch you murder our people.<br>For every mutant you kill, we will kill a human.  
>This goes double for you "100"<br>THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING  
>The Brotherhood of Mutants<p>

* * *

><p>"Oh come on, John," Bobby said while his Draenei hunter and pet bear stalked John's troll mage. "What do you hope to accomplish? You're just vindicating their decision to continue victimising mutants."<p>

_"Hey, if you want to go around pandering to those spazzes you go right ahead,"_ John retorted hotly over Ventrillo. _"I'm not going to stand around while they kill us off just because they're jealous we're so much better than them. It's about time the humans learned that mutants are the future."_

"Look, I completely agree that we shouldn't just stand by and let mutants be victims of hate crimes like this," said Kitty as her night elf priest called up a healing spell to bestow upon Bobby's hunter. "But announcing you're going to kill a human every time they kill a mutant won't do anything to help anyone. You should be going after the original murderers and see them brought to justice—through the criminal system, I mean."

Everyone heard Pietro snort contemptuously through their headsets as his party of five avatars rampaged their way through the battleground.

_"Puh-lease, you seem to think that the human justice system will actually put these guys away. How naive of you. Two words: history repeats," _Pietro said.

_"You surprise me, Pietro," _Wanda said, her own blood elf priest healing their side. _"I didn't think you bothered reading history at all."_

_"At least we're not just standing idly by, hoping that the cops are going to do their jobs," Dominic sneered while his tauren warrior came bearing down on Jubilee's mage._

"An eye for an eye is not the answer," Kitty replied firmly. "And we're not standing idly by at all. We think that this guy might have killed ninety-nine more mutants before this one and we're doing our best to try and track him down."

_"Yeah, that's what we think too," _said Pietro. _"Which is why we have to act swiftly and decisively. He's gotten away with this for far too long and we're going to put a stop to it _and_ make an example of him."_

* * *

><p>The red-headed woman sat on the floor with her two year old son and played blocks with him while her husband watched the TV in the background. The news was on, and the reporter was speaking on a horrible mutant terrorist attack on a school where one of the students had been killed a few days before hand. Her husband shook his head in disgust and turned the TV off.<p>

"It never ends," he said.

The woman turned her head to look at him. "Regrets?"

The man with the ruby quartz glasses sighed in irritation, then smiled at his wife and son fondly. "Sometimes, and never."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The X-men gathered in the War Room. On one wall was a large screen, and Kitty stood in front and just to the side of it with her laptop and a laser pointer. She waited until everyone had seated.

"Alright Kitty," said Storm. "What have you found?"

Kitty pressed a button on the laptop, and a map of the USA appeared on the screen. She pressed another button, and the map filled with a number of multi-coloured dots. In some places the dots were so thick they couldn't see anything of the landscape.

"These are all the known incidences of mutant murders for the past ten years," Kitty said.

Bobby gave a low whistle.

"Why ten years?" asked Piotr.

"It was a nice round number," Kitty replied with a shrug. "Besides, I figure that whoever '100' is, it's unlikely he would have killed a hundred mutants in less than a year. Not impossible, but unlikely that he—or she—could have killed so many without it being noticed."

"You might be surprised," Logan commented dryly.

"That's a lot of murders," Jubilee said, looking over the number of dots.

"Yeah," Kitty agreed and then pressed another button. "These are all the ones who were shot, like our girl. As you can see there's a lot more than a hundred here. We've got some concentrated areas—like this spot in northern California—which are probably done by the same person, or group."

Kitty indicated the spot she was using as an example with her laser pointer and Logan growled.

"That's where Rogue was living after she left here," Logan said.

"Really?" Bobby asked curiously.

"Yeah, some of her so-called 'friends' hated mutants," Logan said. "They burned out her apartment and ran her out of town when they found out she was one."

"Oh lovely," Kitty said cynically. "Well, I guess we know who's responsible for those murders then."

"Not for much longer," Logan said ominously.

"They might not be the only ones responsible for murders around there," Sam said, "as depressing as that is to say."

"Ahem, yes well," Kitty went on and then pressed a few buttons on her laptop. The display changed once more. "These are all the murders this year, and this," Kitty pressed another button, "is the number of shootings this year. So the good news is that there's only been four of them. The bad news, of course, is that anyone's being murdered at all. I think this is the most depressing research I've ever done."

"So, what do we do?" asked Bobby. "I mean, I thought that things were starting to get better with human/mutant relations..."

"They are overall," Storm assured him. "The problem is that there are always people who are never going to be able to accept mutants—and vice versa—no matter what happens. Right now the best we can do is see these people brought to justice. Kitty, how many of these murders were solved?"

"Oh plenty. Hang on," Kitty said, and turned to her laptop once more. "Okay, these are all the murders in the last ten years...these are all the murders that were closed...and these are all the murders where their main suspect got acquitted. Of course, we have no way of knowing if they were acquitted because they actually didn't do it, or because the jury was full of sympathisers, or whatever, but yeah."

"So how may open cases are there?" asked Storm.

Kitty pressed another couple of buttons, and Storm nodded at the display that came up.

"The unsolved/solved mutant murder case ratio is on par with the human murder case ratio," Kitty said. "So, I guess that's good news."

"Wow," Paige said, shaking her head. "Doing all of this must have taken you ages."

Kitty shrugged. "We were already tracking a lot of this stuff anyway. By they way, I should point out that the consistency of dots shouldn't be taken as an indication of where mutants are hated most. I mean, we have murders in District X—"

"Mutant Town," Bobby said with a smirk.

"—but they're not necessarily hate crimes," Kitty went on. "Plus some places would have small or even non-existent mutant populations, so of course, the murder rate would be lower, but that wouldn't mean that there aren't haters there."

"Okay so, what exactly is the point of this, then?" asked Tabitha. "We're not cops. We're not homicide investigators. What exactly are you expecting us to do about it?"

"Well, first of all," Kitty replied tersely, "we're trying to fill everyone in so that we all have some idea of what's going on. The second thing is that we're X-men, and we don't like to sit back and put our feet up while mutants and humans are killing each other."

"Yeah, but what can we _do_?" Tabitha persisted. "This isn't like WoW. We can't just use a mod or search or whatever for directions or coordinates. There is no Questhelper in real life."

"What have I told you kids about bring that game into the War Room?" Logan demanded with a growl.

"Hey, it's the World of _War_craft, and this is the _War_ Room," Tabitha replied. "I stand by my decision."

"Actually, I think searching for these guys on the 'net is a good idea," Bobby said thoughtfully. "I mean, the guy threw confetti and took the time to write '100' on the wall. If he wanted to celebrate his 100th kill, why did he go to that much trouble? Why didn't he just, I don't know, treat himself to an expensive dinner or a movie, or...I don't know, something."

"He wanted to gloat," said Psylocke. "He wanted to let everyone know what he'd done."

"That's exactly what I think," Bobby said, nodding at Psylocke. "Look, we might not find anything. Maybe he's smart enough to realise that for all the anonymity on the internet, it is possible to track people down and bragging about killing a hundred people—mutants or otherwise—probably isn't the smartest thing to do. Still..."

"It's worth a look," Storm said. "Even if '100' isn't on there, we may be able to find others who aren't as wise and point the police in their direction."

"That's assuming they're not anti-mutant too and ignore it," said Sam.

"There is nothing preventing us from keeping tabs on them," Storm said.

"Well, worst case scenario we can always send the Brotherhood in their direction," Tabitha said cheerfully, and then frowned at the looks half the group gave her. "What?"

"While I have no objection to any of us being friendly with the Brotherhood," Storm said, "that's as far as it goes. We don't kill, and we won't use the Brotherhood as a convenient way to kill people without getting our own hands dirty."

"Just what are we going to do about that?" Psylocke asked abruptly. "The Brotherhood have made it clear they intend to kill a human for every mutant murder. Shouldn't we be trying to stop them?"

An awkward silence fell, felt all the more by those who were part of the friendly World of Warcraft rivalry.

"Obviously if we catch wind of any of their plans—times, dates, locations—then yes, we should be prepared to act," Storm said firmly. "However, as we do not know where their base of operations is, we are not in a position to tip off the appropriate authorities as to their location, nor are we able to apprehend them ourselves."

"Well, there is this wedding coming up," said Logan, "and Kurt's going."

Another awkward silence fell and Kurt wished he could make himself invisible.

"Oh come on, Logan, that's mean," said Kitty, pulling a face at him. "It's a wedding! You can't raid a wedding."

"That's right," said Kurt. "Haven't you ever seen _Pirates of the Caribbean_?"

"Yeah, Wanda'll have your head," Kitty said with a giggle.

"Not to mention Rogue," said Jubilee.

"What about Rogue?" Logan asked.

"Oh, you didn't know?" Jubilee asked ingeniously. "Rogue's one of Wanda's bridesmaids."

Logan paused, then grumbled. "Fine. Scrap that idea then."

"There is also the possibility that there may be other non-Brotherhood members there," Storm said. "I'd prefer it if we kept as many innocents out of this as possible."

"Yeah, can I just say that I don't want to plot against the Brotherhood like this?" said Bobby. "Okay, if our teams happen to collide on the battlefield, that's one thing. But plotting an attack on their home? I can't... I just... This school has been invaded twice since I've been here. Twice. I don't particularly feel the need to do the same to someone else, Brotherhood or otherwise."

"Not to mention if we do attack the Brotherhood at their home, and fail, they'll probably come after us at ours," Kitty said. "Aside from the fact that I don't want to deal with invasion number three either, we've also got a lot of students to look after, and they need to be our first priority. Besides, it feels a little like stabbing our friends in the back, and I really don't think I could do that."

"I'm with Kitty," Jubilee said quickly.

There was agreement from many of the others.

"I can see why you feel that way," said Psylocke, "especially when they helped us during the whole Sentinel thing. My concern is that we're in danger of forming a double standard. The X-men want humans and mutants to live together peacefully; if we want to bring the perpetrators of mutant hate crimes to justice, then we need to be prepared to do the same with perpetrators of human hate crimes."

"I agree, Betsy," Storm said, giving Psylocke a nod. "We are in an awkward situation with the Brotherhood, as we're not really enemies, but not exactly friends either—"

"We're frenemies," Jubilee said with a giggle.

"As it is, we cannot act against them at this time even if we wanted to," Storm went on. "Certainly, if we catch them carrying out their threat to kill humans, then yes, we have to act. Until then—or we catch wind of some other plan—we shall leave things be, and reassess at another date when we have more information."

"Anyway, back to this '100' guy, which is what this meeting's supposed to be about," Bobby said. "Kitty, any clues on what the other ninety-nine murders might have been?"

Kitty shook her head. "It could be any combination. As far as I can tell—and I haven't finished going through everything yet—there haven't been any other indications of someone numbering their kills. And as for the shooting itself, well, there's a lot of those. A lot more than ninety-nine. I have a few programs running, trying to find some sort of pattern, but the fact is we don't know that all hundred of them were shootings. He could have stabbed others or beaten them to death... Heck, we're only suspecting that he's even killed ninety-nine others."

"We're also assuming that we've got a record of all the kills," said Logan. "If the body wasn't found..."

"Or if it wasn't obvious they were a mutant," added Bobby. "Okay well, I guess he would have had some way of knowing if they were a mutant or not, but that doesn't mean who found 'em or who identified them would have known."

There was silence while they considered their 'needle in a haystack' situation.

"Well then, if no one has any more suggestions," Storm said, paused and glanced around the room long enough to get a silent, negative response, "then this meeting is adjourned. Thank you for all your hard work, Kitty."

"You're welcome," Kitty replied with a nod.

* * *

><p>Later that evening, Piotr lay in Kitty's bed, spooning with her and gently kissing her neck while she tapped away with one hand on her laptop.<p>

"Katya," he murmured after awhile, "are you ever going to turn that thing off?"

"Hmm? Oh I'm sorry Petey," Kitty replied. "I guess I'm just getting a little caught up."

"I'd noticed," Piotr said as Kitty finally started packing up her computer. "It will still be there in the morning."

"Don't remind me," Kitty said, sounding resigned as she switched off the laptop.

Piotr chuckled lightly as Kitty lifted herself up to set her laptop on the bedside table. She then lay back down on the bed and turned around so she could face her boyfriend.

"Now, where were we?" she asked.

They kissed and cuddled. Piotr told Kitty how beautiful she was. Kitty told him he was the sweetest, handsomest man in the world. Unwilling to let yet other go, Piotr asked about staying the night and Kitty willingly agreed. She loved just laying there, wrapped up in his arms.

They had been dating for two years and they were deliberately taking things slow. Piotr never felt any need to rush into things, while Kitty was still smarting from her failed relationship with Bobby. Kitty and Bobby had been friends to begin with and it had been easy for them to turn to the other when they were feeling down; Kitty when she was homesick, Bobby and his frustrations dating Rogue, and dealing with his family who had all but disowned him. Somehow actions which had started out as simple platonic comfort started turning into something more.

Kitty would never forget the day that Rogue had walked in on them. She would never forget the look of betrayal on her face, nor would she forget Rogue turning her back on them and walking out. They'd attempted to catch up with her, but lost time getting dressed and by the time they'd gotten to the garage she was gone. They'd foolishly thought she'd come back, but she never did. Bobby tried calling her, but never got an answer. They eventually found Rogue's phone smashed against the base of a tree, and the motorcycle she had taken devoid of fuel some hours away from the school.

Their relationship hadn't been the same after that. They hadn't wanted to hurt Rogue, but they couldn't seem to summon up the willpower to stop what they were doing. Now Kitty couldn't look at Bobby any more without seeing Rogue's face. She didn't even know how to have a non-work or Rogue related conversation with him any more, because in the end their friendship had become all about sex. Kitty just couldn't bring herself to rush into a sexual relationship with Piotr.

"Meh," she grumbled under her breath.

"Something wrong?" Piotr asked, his hand gently caressing her back as they lay together.

"Oh sorry," Kitty replied. "I was just thinking about Rogue and Bobby."

"Ahh," he replied, was quiet for a moment, and then said: "Don't you think that it is time you put that behind you? Have not you and Rogue come to an understanding now?"

"Yeah, wow, she agreed not to hold a grudge against Bobby and me any more, whoohoo," Kitty said cynically. "That doesn't exactly... It doesn't change what we did."

"No, but it was almost five years ago now," Piotr said patiently. "I know it was hard when Rogue disappeared and we had no idea what had happened to her, but that's over now. Rogue's moved on. She's happy. Why can't you be?"

Kitty sighed. "I don't know. I made a huge mistake that cost me two friendships. I just... It's hard letting go of that. I don't think I can."

Piotr kissed her forehead.

"I think, Katya, you need to follow Rogue's lead on this one, and stop holding a grudge against yourself," he said.

* * *

><p>"Hey all," Tabitha said into the microphone of her headset whilst sitting at her computer with World of Warcraft playing.<p>

_"Hey,"_ Dominc replied._ "And you are..."_

"Tabitha. Boom Boom. One of the X-men."

_"Right."_

"Anyway, could one of you guys invite me to your guild?" Tabitha asked.

_"So maybe you didn't know, but Allys can't join Horde guilds," _Pietro replied in a voice that implied Tabitha was an idiot.

"Well, duh. I just created a blood elf rogue," Tabitha replied as she steered her new character around the blood elf newbie zone, picking up quests.

_"At last!"_ John said. _"An X-men who isn't a complete loser! Welcome to the Horde, my sister. What is the name of your toon?"_

Tabitha chuckled and told them. Shortly someone sent her an invite to the guild, which she accepted. Abruptly a string of 'welcome's appeared on the screen in green text. Tabitha replied with her thanks.

"Yeah, I was getting bored playing Alliance all the time," Tabitha said. "I wanted to see what life was like on the other side."

_"Better,"_ John replied. _"We have Barrens chat—"_

_"Oh hell not Barrens chat—"_

_"And Thrall."_

"What's Barrens chat?" Tabitha asked. "I'm guessing it has something to do with The Barrens?"

_"Ahh, well all orcs, trolls, and taurens go to the Barrens, so the place is usually chock full of noobs and retards, and people asking you to join their guild, and more people asking where Mankirk's wife is, and if you so much as breathe the name Chuck Norris, you're guaranteed to start a run of Chuck Norris jokes," _John replied merrily.

"Oh I see. Goldshire," Tabitha replied. "Although, Barrens sounds worse. We get a lot of duelling though. Not so much on the Chuck Norris jokes."

_"Chuck Norris will never have a heart attack. His heart isn't foolish enough to attack him,"_ Wanda said.

Tabitha laughed.

_"When the booeyman goes to bed, he checks for Chuck Norris,"_ John said.

_"Guys, this was not a cue for you to start on the Chuck Norris jokes," _said Dominic.

_"Says you," _said John. _"When Chuck Norris does a push up, he's not pushing himself up, he's pushing the world down."_

_"The grass is always greener on the other side, unless Chuck Norris has been there. In that case the grass is most likely soaked in blood and tears," _Wanda said.

_"Hey Pietro,"_ said Dominic. _"I think now we know why Pyro and Wanda got together."_

_"Like that was in any doubt," _Pietro replied, and a chime sounded, signalling someone else signing in. _"Hello!"_

_"Bonjour all,"_ Gambit said.

_"Chuck Norris has already been to Mars; that's why there are no signs of life there," _John said,

_"Remy!" _Wanda exclaimed. _"Hey, how are you? How's Anna and Olivier?"_

_"They're both doing good," _Gambit said and added proudly: _"Olivier has my eyes."_

_"Yeah you mentioned that before," _Wanda said, more amused than annoyed_, "I can't wait to meet him."_

_"If you can see Chuck Norris, he can see you. If you can't see Chuck Norris you may be only seconds away from death," _said John.

_"Chuck Norris sold his soul to the devil for his rugged good looks and unparalleled martial arts ability," _Gambit said_._

_"Not you too," _Dominic said.

_"Shortly after the transaction was finalised," _Gambit continued cheerfully,_ "Chuck roundhouse kicked the devil in the face and took his soul back. The devil, who appreciates irony, couldn't stay mad and admitted he should have seen it coming. They now play poker every second Wednesday of the month."_

_"I like it,"_ John said. _"Oh, we've managed to steal one of the X-men away from the Alliance."_

"Hi," said Tabithia. "Tabby aka Boom Boom here."

_"Hi Tabby,_" said Gambit. _"I like the name; Boom Boom."_

"Yeah, my mutant power is making psionic balls of energy that explode."

_"Exploding stuff is fun."_

"Totally!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>All Chuck Norris jokes were stolen from various websites


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

John exited the bookshop and stood in the middle of the footpath, not caring if he was standing in anyone's way. He pulled out a small spiral notepad from his pocket.

"Let's see," he said as he consulted his list. "Stock up on beer, check. Mailed wedding invitations, check. Ogle newly released book in bookshop..."

John pulled out the pen from the spiral spine of the notepad and drew two ticks next to the third item.

"Double check," he said, slipped the pen back into place, and read out the fourth item: "Kill mutant-hating scumbag."

John pushed the notepad back into his pocket and then hailed a taxi which he took to just a block short of the newspaper offices. He then located the staff car park and waited just outside where the cameras wouldn't see him. He pulled out a mobile phone Mastermind had stolen earlier and dialled the number for the newspaper office. When his call was answered, he said the lights on one of the cars had been left on, and rattled off a particular number plate. The receptionist thanked him, and they hung up.

Just when John was beginning to think that the mutant-hating journalist didn't actually care if his car battery ran down, he showed up. John stretched out his hand and a flame appeared in it from the slimline flame thrower under his clothes. He watched as the journalist opened up the gate to the staff car park and headed towards his vehicle. John threw the flame in his hand at the car just as the journalist reached it, and the car immediately caught on fire. John ensured that the flames grabbed the journalist as well. He also lit the stolen mobile phone on fire and threw that over the fence into the car park.

Once John was satisfied that the journalist would no longer be writing articles inciting hatred against mutants, he walked off. As he casually made his way down the street to the nearest taxi stand, he pulled out his notepad and checked off the fourth item.

"Kill mutant-hating scumbag, check," he said with satisfaction. "Meet Wanda at bridal shop. Damn."

Nevertheless, John got in the taxi and gave him the address for the bridal store. He soon arrived and entered to find Wanda and Mastermind in heavy discussion with the sales assistant.

"Hey," John said.

"Hi honey," Wanda said, giving him a smile as he entered. "How'd it go? You get everything done?"

"Yup," John replied, sounding well pleased. "Everything's just peachy. Also, my new book looks awesome on the shelf."

"They always do," Wanda said. "We're just finishing up, actually."

"Oh good," he said, and he sat down on a nearby chair to wait while the women finished up.

A few minutes later—sooner than John had expected—they left the bridal shop and headed out to the car. Mastermind raised her eyebrow when she took in the number of cases of beer in the backseat.

"Buy enough beer?" she asked John scornfully.

"Hmm, now that you mention it," John said, looking the cases over, "no."

Mastermind slid her leg into the passenger seat and looked at Wanda. "You're marrying an alcoholic, you realise that, right?"

"He's not an alcoholic," Wanda said the same time John replied with: "What's your point?"

Mastermind smirked and sat down in the car. Wanda and John followed suit.

"Pyro knows when to stop," Wanda said firmly as she put the keys into the ignition. "He's not a completely irresponsible drinker."

"Thank you, my little firebug," John said.

"And besides, if he was, I'd cure him of it."

"Oooh ominous."

"Sure you will," Mastermind replied snidely. "That's what they all say."

"Well, it's irrelevant anyway, since Wandy just said I'm not an irresponsible drinker. And because I intend to stay that way, there's no reason for her to act," John said cheerfully.

"So there," Wanda added.

Mastermind rolled her eyes.

"By they way, honey," Wanda said, glancing at John briefly in the rear view mirror as she drove, "how'd everything go with the journalist?"

"Great," John replied. "One less mutant-hating douche bag to plot against us."

"It's a shame we couldn't track down the ones responsible for the actual murder," Wanda said, still a little annoyed about that, but even more annoyed that there had been more murders.

"Yeah, but these journos are just as guilty," John said with a nod. "They might not pull the trigger, but they do put ideas in people's heads. I should know."

"I'm surprised you know anything," Mastermind said.

* * *

><p>Bobby pulled up a chair and sat down next to Kitty at the teacher's desk in the computer lab. His proximity immediately made Kitty feel very uncomfortable.<p>

"Hey," she said awkwardly.

"Hi," Bobby replied, seemingly oblivious to Kitty's discomfort as he leaned over. "Did you get the email I sent you?"

"Yeah, I haven't gotten around to reading it yet," Kitty said, trying to focus on her work. Class projects didn't mark themselves.

"Okay, well, when you get chance, lemme know what you think," Bobby said. "I figured you were busy, so I thought I might poke around on the 'net and see if I could find any anti-mutant sites where they might brag about their, umm, conquests."

Kitty paused and turned her head to regard Bobby. "You found something?"

"Oh yeah," Bobby said with a nod. "They call themselves the Friends of Humanity. Officially, they just write and link articles about the latest mutant developments. They just love the Brotherhood, by the way, and by 'love' I mean 'loathe, hate, and utterly despise'. Buuut... it also comes with a forum. Most of the users appear to be anonymous and there's a bit of bragging going on."

"Really?" Kitty asked curiously, taking the moment to open up her mail and find Bobby's message with the link. "That surprises me, although, I guess it probably shouldn't. I mean, some people really do think that they're really anonymous on the internet."

"Have you ever tracked someone down?" Bobby asked.

"Nope, but then I've never felt the need to," Kitty replied with a shrug.

She opened up the email, clicked the link, and the Friends of Humanity page appeared on the screen.

"As you can see, the page is pretty straight forward," Bobby said. "Articles here, forums there. You should note that nothing the admin does or says is actually inciting anyone to do anything but..."

"But?" Kitty prompted.

"Well, it might just be me being paranoid or something," Bobby said cautiously. "But I can't help but feel while I'm in the forums that someone is doing some recruiting. I mean, if you read it plainly it just looks like they're encouraging people to keep up the violence, but... yeah, I don't know..."

Kitty nodded. "Okay, great. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I will add it to my list of things to look into."

"Heh, sorry about adding to your workload," Bobby said bashfully, running his hand through his short blond hair.

"Nah it's okay," Kitty replied with a shrug. "Although... you could make it easier for me."

"Sure, how?"

"Why don't you go through the forums or whatever, and pick up whatever you think is important. In the meantime, I'll find out who's hosting it and who owns the site."

Bobby nodded.

"Okay, I can do that," Bobby said, and then paused, perhaps only then realising just how close he was to Kitty. He licked his bottom lip.

"Great," Kitty said, looking back at him in the eyes.

Bobby cleared his throat. "So, uhh... I guess I'll let you get back to work."

"Yeah," Kitty said, grateful that he was going. "I'll umm, I'll talk to you later then."

"Yeah."

There was a pause, and finally Bobby forced himself to get up and walk away. He was so frustrated with himself; he had been about to kiss her and he couldn't deny it. Worse, he suspected Kitty would have kissed him back.

Bobby rubbed his forehead as he left the computer room. He was not going to do this again. He was not going to do to Piotr what he did to Rogue. The last time he and Kitty had sex was the day Rogue left, and Bobby hadn't actually even wanted to pursue Kitty since. Piotr aside, he didn't even want to pursue her now. But for some reason every time he was in close proximity to her he just wanted to take her into his arms. He could only imagine that this might be what it was like for an ex-smoker getting a whiff of someone else's cigarette smoke, although he mentally berated himself about comparing Kitty to cigarettes.

* * *

><p>Some weeks later, Logan was just minding his own business, heading into town for some beer and some company, when something—or rather, someone—literally tackled him and his motorcycle off the road. He caught the whiff of a familiar scent just before he hit the ground. His motorcycle spun and toppled over in a spectacular fashion. The landing hurt, but Logan could already feel his wounds healing up as he stood to his feet.<p>

His assailant gave him no time to think and attacked him again. Logan felt ten sharp, short claws sink into his skin. Logan's own long, adamantium claws extended. For those first few moments there was nothing but claws and blood and instinctive battle, then they rolled apart and Logan finally got a good look at his assailant. The appearance didn't meet the scent.

"About time you got a hair cut, Sabretooth," Logan said in a growl.

Logan hadn't seen Sabretooth in years, not since he had fallen off the Statue of Liberty. Then, Sabretooth had long, blond hair with over-grown eyebrows. Now he had short, black hair and normal-looking eyebrows. His claws were just as sharp as ever.

"What are you talking about, runt?" Victor replied. "I've have the same hair cut for years."

They clashed again; sweat, teeth, and claws. Wounds healed almost as soon as they were made, which confused Logan a little when he first noticed; he couldn't remember Sabretooth having a good healing factor.

"Getting a little slow, aren't you?" Victor taunted him. "I think living at that school's made you soft."

Logan didn't reply, he just didn't feel the need to.

Onwards the fight went, spilling blood onto the ground, hair, prices of skin and flesh flying everywhere, both men growling like dogs at each other. Eventually, Logan pinned Victor onto the ground and pointed his claws at Victor's neck.

"Any last works before we find out if you can heal from having your throat slashed?" Logan asked.

Victor grinned wickedly at him.

"Happy birthday, Jimmy," he said.

To say those words were the last ones Logan expected to hear come out of Sabretooth's mouth would be putting it mildly. He was so surprised, in fact, that he loosened his grip for but a second—all the time Victor needed to get out of that position and take off. Logan scratched his head, and then mentally berated himself for letting him get past him like that. Then he took in his bloodied clothes, and the state of his motorcycle, and reluctantly started back for the school.

* * *

><p>Logan would have loved to have slipped back into the mansion unnoticed. Unfortunately, Storm was in the garden and heard his return on the winds before he'd even come into smelling range of her.<p>

"Logan," Storm exclaimed as she floated down next to him outside the garage door. "What in the world happened to you?"

Logan grunted as he got off the mess that was his motorcycle. He was reluctant to respond, but knew he had no choice.

"Sabretooth," he said as he busied himself opening up the garage and half riding, half dragging his motorcycle inside. "Ambushed me about half an hour outside of the school. We fought. He took off."

Storm looked skeptical.

"That's it?" she asked.

"Pretty much," Logan replied.

Storm frowned as Logan moved his motorcycle off to the side. "Pretty much?"

Logan shrugged. "I don't know what else to tell you, 'Ro. He ambushed me, we fought, he took off."

"Do you have any idea why?"

"He wanted to wish me a happy birthday."

"Be serious, Logan," Storm said.

"Actually, I am," Logan replied, finally looking at her rather than his motorcycle. "I had him pinned, and he wished me a happy birthday."

Storm regarded Logan for a long moment, and decided he wasn't pulling her leg after all.

"When is your birthday?" she asked.

"How the hell should I know?" Logan asked, and tapped his head. "Lost my memory years ago, remember?"

"Right, of course," Storm replied.

"He was probably just saying that just to distract me anyhow," Logan went on with a shrug. "How would Sabretooth know when my birthday is?"

Storm nodded. "I will clear the way to the bedroom so you can get there and clean up without anyone seeing all the blood. I wouldn't want to upset the students."

"Right."

"I'll also let the X-men know so they will be on the alert.

"Good idea." Logan said, then added as an afterthought: "And for the benefit of yourself, and everyone else who doesn't have a keen sense of smell, he's changed his looks."

"Oh?"

"Short, black hair and normal eyebrows," Logan said, then smirked. "He looks almost human."

Storm nodded once more. "I shall let them know."

* * *

><p>"Maybe it's a red herring," Sam said the next day when the X-men gathered for their emergency session in the War Room.<p>

"How do you figure?" asked Tabitha.

"Well, it's like this," Sam said, "Sabretooth works for Magneto, right? And Magneto does a lot of things, but he's never actually hurt us."

"Tell that to Rogue," Logan said.

"Umm, pass," Sam said, and hurried on. "My point is that Magneto's never actually attacked the school. And of all the people that Sabretooth chose to attack, he chose the one with the healing factor. I think he wants to distract us from... whatever it is that he's planning."

"It actually makes sense," Kitty said. "Magneto—and the Brotherhood—have even helped us before. They must think that we would interfere with what they're doing."

"Which we probably would," Bobby said cheerfully.

Storm breathed in and out slowly.

"Well," she said, "it's as good a theory as any. And if we're right, then it's going to work just fine; the safety of our students is our first priority. Also, I think we should go through our security system and make sure that everything is in good working order. I don't believe we should assume that Sabretooth means us no harm; he could hurt—kill—a lot of people here in a short amount of time if we can't stop him from getting past the front door."

"By the way, Wolverino," Jubilee said, looking a him curiously. "Just when _is_ your birthday?"

"How would I know?" Logan asked, somewhat irritated at being asked the exact same question in less than twenty-four hours. "I don't even remember what year I was born, let alone the date."

"That's so sad," Jubilee said, and then continued on merrily: "We should throw you a birthday party sometime!"

"I don't think so, kid."

"Oh come on, it'll be fun!"

"I really don't think so."

"But... but..."

"Shh," Bobby said, grinning wildly at Jubilee. "Just agree with him, then we can throw him a surprise party."

Logan growled as Jubilee giggled.

"Don't you even think about it," Logan said to Bobby.

"Too late," Bobby said to Logan with a big, cheesy grin on his face. "Already thought of it."

"Bobby," Storm said, cutting in before anyone could get cut, "Kitty tells me you were the one who found the Friends of Humanity website?"

"Yeah," Bobby said, nodding. "I'm still looking into it. At one point I thought we might be able to use it to find mutants—or at least the ones in immediate trouble—but most of them comment only after they've...y'know...and the few that don't only make vague statements, nothing that could lead us to the mutant."

"Do you still think there's some recruiting going on?" Kitty asked.

"Yeah," Bobby said, "and I figured out why too; conversations keep getting cut off. Okay, I realise that it's the internet and that there are plenty of reasons why a conversation in a forum might come to an abrupt end, but it happens consistently with the same kind of posts."

"Like they've been contacted privately?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," Bobby said. "Plus—and I can't say conclusively yet—but there seems to be a pattern. Like the original poster seems to be admitting to their third or fourth crime, and I can usually verify one of those as real, because it's been in the paper, or whatever."

"If they are recruiting," Jubilee said, "it might be useful to have someone on the inside."

"I agree," said Kitty with a nod at Jubilee, and then she looked at Bobby, "I should be able to create an identity for you that won't be easily traced—or at the very least, won't be easily traced to the school."

"No," Storm said firmly. "If we're going to do that, then I want it to happen off school grounds. Should the worst happen, I don't want the wrong people realising that this is more than a school. We've already had two invasions. We don't know exactly what kind of recruiting is going on here—or for what."

"Or if I'm just being paranoid," Bobby said, looking nervous.

"Bobby..." Storm began and Bobby threw up his hands.

"I don't know, okay?" he insisted. "Gimme a break, already! There's a bunch of people out there who really, really, _really_ hate mutants, and get actual pleasure out of beating and killing us. It makes me sick just reading these forums. They had better not be banding together."

"Well, maybe a second pair of eyes might see something," Sam said. "If you send me the link, I'd be willing to check it out too."

Bobby nodded. "Okay."

"It will take time to make proper preparations anyway," said Storm. "Fortunately, the school year is almost over, so we can use that time to put things in place."

"Why go to so much effort?" Tabitha asked. "It's just an internet community."

"One that acts in real life," Sam pointed out. "We don't know how serious they are."

"I guess."


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: **Will take this moment to note that I am not a geneticist. Which is one of the many reasons why we're hearing about mutant genetics from Wanda, and not from Sinister; Wanda's a layman, it's okay if she's wrong ;)

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

There was no further sign of Sabretooth and after a few weeks everyone started to relax. Then too, half the students went home for the summer, and many of the X-men and the remaining students (as well as some that went home) ended up spending a good deal of time playing World of Warcraft. Neither Storm nor Logan would tolerate any of them spending too much time on the computers, though, and they kept up a regular schedule of Danger Room sessions and outdoor activities.

Sam and Tabitha walked out of the movie theatre, hand in hand and chatting about what they thought of it.

"So, whatcha wanna do now?" Tabitha asked as she turned on Sam and wrapped her arms about his neck.

"Hmm, I don't know," Sam replied and slid his hands onto her waist. "Go home and make out?"

"Sounds like you do know what you want to do," Tabitha teased him. "Okay, but let's not go home. Let's just...park the car somewhere private."

Sam kissed her lips gently. "Well, if you insist."

Tabitha poked her tongue out at him. They let go, and went back to holding hands again as they started down the corridor of stores leading towards the parking lot. They hadn't gone very far when Tabitha's eyes landed on a display in the window of one of the shoe stores.

"Oooh, but first, I have to go in here," Tabitha said eagerly.

Sam gave a resigned, long-suffering sigh as his girlfriend dragged him into the store.

* * *

><p>Pietro swaggered up to a group of four men in their early twenties hanging around a car in a parking lot.<p>

"Hey," he said. "I hear you like to beat mutants to death."

The men looked up at Pietro and took in his slimline white and blue clothes. One sniggered.

"Whaddya want?" another asked.

"Oh nothing," Pietro replied. "It's just that I'm a mutant."

Before they could even blink, Pietro zipped over to them and wrapped his arms over the shoulders of two of them. "Why don't you see if you can catch me?"

The first five minutes were a joke as Pietro taunted them; zipping in a out of their range in a blink of an eye. The men had no chance of catching him. Then Pietro got bored and started beating them up.

To anyone watching, which there wasn't, it would have looked like the four men where spontaneously lurching forward, falling back, staggering to their feet, waving their fists around in random directions, and crying out in pain and anguish as blood and teeth went flying while a white and blue blur danced around them.

At last the four men were nothing more than bruised and bloodied lumps on the ground. The plan was to kill them, of course; they were guilty of multiple mutant murders. They _deserved_ to die. Yet Pietro found for all his bravado, he couldn't actually bring himself to give the killing blow. This had hardly been a fair fight, and to take their lives now would be no better than killing them in cold blood. He couldn't do it.

But if he didn't, what was to stop them from killing more innocent people?

* * *

><p>"Die, you bastard," Tabitha said, glaring at the monitor.<p>

"Gee," Sam said from the computer next to hers, "thanks a lot."

"Not you, dork head," Tabitha replied, intent on defeating the villain her blood elf rogue was busy fighting. "Him! I'm going to kick his stupid ass if it's the last thing—ah ha! Finally! Douche."

"You are getting way too much into this game," Sam said, nodding sagely.

* * *

><p>Mastermind was perched on a barstool at a night club. She had a drink sitting in front of her, but she hardly touched it; too much alcohol could make it difficult to concentrate on using her powers, especially in this sea of people, some of whom had drunk a little too much themselves.<p>

As she perused the room, looking for her target mentally, she found the mind of a man who had taken it upon himself to slip a little something into the drinks of one of the other women at the club. Incensed, Mastermind wrapped him up into a little illusion. She made him think that someone had slipped something into his drink, then took him home and raped him. She took perhaps a little too much pleasure in his feelings of helplessness. Mastermind then moved on to having him taunted by his peers for his ordeal, none of them taking his situation seriously. Once Mastermind was satisfied he had been scarred for life, she freed him of the illusion. Only two minutes had passed.

Finally, Mastermind located her real target; a woman who had been personally responsible for five mutant deaths that they were aware of. Mastermind worked her way into the woman's head and wrapped her in an entirely different illusion; one where she was beaten and then buried alive. Mastermind knew just how powerful the mind was. She knew how easy it was to convince her victim that she was running out of air and couldn't breathe.

After she dropped dead, no one could figure out why exactly she stopped breathing.

* * *

><p>"You sure about this?" Bobby asked Sam.<p>

The X-men were gathered for another meeting in the War Room, this one to discuss the Friends of Humanity situation. Sam nodded at Bobby.

"It makes sense. I'm going to be moving in with some of my college friends anyway," Sam said. "That makes for good camouflage."

"It also potentially puts them in danger," Storm pointed out.

"If these guys are that much trouble, they're already in danger by associating with a mutant," Sam said.

Storm nodded, unfortunately having to agree with that idea.

"Besides," Sam went on, "if I do get in a spot, I can just cannonball out of there, and I'll be invulnerable when I do. Yes, I realise that's not fool-proof, especially if they have something that can turn off powers, but it does give me an advantage."

"One that I don't have," Bobby said with a nod. "Well, I can't say that I mind giving up the position."

"If these guys have something that can turn off powers, I'm asking why," said Tabitha, looking cranky as she folded her arms across her chest. "They seem to be more interested in killing mutants rather than depowering them."

Sam reached over and took Tabitha's hand. "I promise I'll be careful."

* * *

><p>Wanda sat in the swivel chair while she waited for the owner of the home office she was in to finally return. Once again they had been unable to find the perpetrators of a mutant murder and were forced to go after a prominent mutant detractor instead. The next one on their list was a prominent radio host; had he been a 'shock jock' they might have been inclined to let him slide, as it was he was shopped as a serious broadcaster.<p>

Just when Wanda was wondering if she was going to be there all night, the door finally opened. He saw her in his chair immediately, before he even closed the door and stared at her.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my house?" he demanded.

"I'm the Scarlet Witch," Wanda replied, and flicked a hex bolt at the door to close it, lock it, and prevent any noise from leaving the room. "I'm with the Brotherhood of Mutants, and I'm just here to talk to you."

The man immediately whirled around. He grabbed hold of the door knob, but all he could do was make it rattle. He cursed and pulled and jerked, but it didn't move. Failing that, he whirled on Wanda and started yelling at her. Wanda largely ignored him and just waited for him to take a breath.

"Saying that kind of thing was what got you into trouble in the first place," she said plainly. "Please, have a seat."

"Have a seat?" the man demanded as Wanda gestured to the spare chair. "This is _my_ office! _My_ house!"

"And what a lovely one it is at that," Wanda said, and picked up a photo off the desk. "You have a lovely family too."

He went pale. "Leave them alone."

"Oh don't you worry," Wanda said, sliding the photo back on the desk, but turning it in his direction so he could see his wife and two little kids. "If anyone's going to be hurting your family, it's going to be you."

"I would never hurt them," he insisted.

"I hope you remember you said that," Wanda replied. "By chance, do you know how mutant genetics works?"

"Some kind of X-factor..." he said, then glared at her. "What's this about? Get out of my house!"

He reached for his phone, but Wanda zapped it with a hex bolt, rendering it useless. She also zapped the windows, closing and locking them, and ensuring that no one could see in.

"I only understand the basics myself," Wanda went on, ignoring his further attempts to escape and get help. "There are two pairs of genes which make up the X-factor; we'll call them 'A' and 'B'."

"I really don't care," he told her. "This is my house and you have no right to—"

Wanda shut his mouth his a hex bolt. "Didn't anyone ever tell you it's rude to interrupt? You'd think after having to do so much talking at work, you'd be glad of a chance to keep your mouth shut."

He glared at her, but he couldn't open his mouth, nor could he even mumble. He looked at her with real fear, perhaps for the first time truly appreciating his situation.

"Now, sit down and listen," Wanda said, she waited until he had done so, and continued: "In baseline humans, A and B are recessive. In order for a mutant—the colloquial definition of the word—to exist, he or she needs at least one A chromosome to be dominant and at least one B chromosome to be dominant. If someone only has a dominant in one, but not the other, they're a carrier. Do you follow me? Nod or shake your head."

For a long moment, he didn't do anything. Finally he shook his head. Wanda gave a long suffering sigh, then pulled out a pen and wrote on a scrap piece of paper on the desk:

Baseline human:  
>aabb<p>

Carrier:  
>Aabb<br>AAbb  
>aaBb<br>aaBB

Mutant:  
>AaBb<br>AABb  
>AABB<br>AaBB

"There are more combinations than that, but that's the general idea. You follow me now?" Wanda asked, and he nodded. Wanda pointed to the first 'carrier' options. "You might be interested to know that you're a carrier, and so is your wife. More to the point, One of you has a dominant A, while the other has a dominant B. In other words, you two are biologically capable of producing a mutant child."

Wanda dropped the pen and leaned towards him with a smug smile on her face. "And you have."

"Liar," he exclaimed, and discovered he was capable of talking again. "Liar!"

Wanda chuckled.

"Why should I lie?" she asked. "You can verify my claim quite easily; you only need to do a DNA test, or four. I'd be careful who you ask, though. I'm told there are some unscrupulous testers out there who tend to pass on information if they find a mutant."

"Oh and I suppose you have a recommendation?" he asked with a sneer.

"Nope," Wanda replied blithely, and went on: "We were planning on killing you, just so you know. People like you; you may not pull the trigger yourself, but you inspire others to do so, and we of the Brotherhood of mutants are very, very tired of our people being murdered by racist cowards. But here, now you have a second chance. We rarely give those out, so I'd take advantage of it, if I were you. One of your children is a mutant, the other is a carrier as well, and is therefore capable of providing you with mutant grandchildren—"

"Lies—"

"Do not make me shut you up again," Wanda snapped at him. "If you care for your children at all, if you truly love them and want to see a world where they are accepted and not in fear of their lives, then you will take this opportunity. You can go on the rest of your life vilifying mutants and one day reject your own child, or you can start accepting us. We're people too, in case you haven't noticed. We live, and laugh, and breathe. We fall in love and get married, and dare to hope that if we bring children into this world that they might be safe, and that they won't live their lives in fear."

Wanda stood up.

"This is the only chance the Brotherhood will give you," she said coldly. "Squander it at your peril."

A few hex bolts later, and Wanda was able to depart without being hindered, and she got into her car which had been parked across the street. As she drove off, she couldn't help but think more about genetics and inheritance.

It had come to her attention while Magneto had been doing his experiments attempting to turn humans into mutants that she was capable of altering genetic code. This was not information she volunteered to her father, and indeed she argued strongly against what he was doing. Sure, if all the world were mutants, then there wouldn't be this war, but changing someone's DNA always seemed wrong to her.

Something that Wanda needed to be aware of was that the higher the odds against whatever she wanted to have happen, the more chance there was of her hex bolt failing, even backfiring. Had changing someone's DNA occurred to her prior to Magneto's experiments, she would have put it in the 'too dangerous' pile and left well enough alone. Unfortunately, the radiation generated by Magneto's machine, intended to alter DNA, made it easy—so very, very easy—for her to use her powers to alter DNA any way she wished with little to no chance of failure or backfiring. And to the chagrin of her conscience, she learned that first hand when she discreetly used a hex bolt during a couple of her father's experiments. She tried to tell herself it was okay; Magneto was already experimenting on them, so what did it matter? And besides, humans had experimented on humans, shouldn't turn about be fair play? She was never able to convince herself.

There was one other opportunity she had for determining the DNA of another with ease; conception. Her abilities made it possible for her and John to have all the unprotected sex they wanted (and they did) with no chance of her getting pregnant. She would never get pregnant unless she chose to, and what's more, when they did decide to conceive, she could make it happen that very day. That part excited her, and she was also happy about the idea of being able to make sure that her children didn't inherit anything bad; no dangerous recessives, no damaged or missing chromosomes, no chance of genetic diseases. But...where did it end? Did she choose what colour hair they got or eyes? Did she decide their gender? Their height? Whether they were a mutant or not? (Although the odds on that one were already heavily in their favour; 75% for a mutant, and 25% for a X-factor carrier.)

Wanda continued mulling over her personal ethical dilemma all the way to the residential village that was the home of the Brotherhood of Mutants. It looked so innocent it was almost hard for Wanda to believe that there was a secret underground level which was their headquarters, and she had been in there on multiple occasions. The residential village had many houses, most of them identical, and more than half of them empty. When Magneto had been doing his experiments, a number of the former humans lived in them, but most of them left after he was imprisoned. Then they had a population boom about a year ago when they had taken some of the Sentinel's prisoners back with them.

As Wanda drove to the home she was sharing with John, Pietro, and Dominic, she passed by the home—now empty—that Pietro had once shared with his girlfriend, Crystal, and their daughter, Luna. Crystal had been one of the humans that Magneto had experimented on, and successfully too. Luna, on the other hand, was born human. Magneto had acted like it was a personal insult against him. Sometimes Wanda wondered if she should have meddled and ensured Luna was born a mutant. Maybe if she had, Crystal wouldn't have left with Luna, and Pietro might have been happier.

Wanda glanced out the window and spotted the plastic replica of Magneto's machine that stood outside the community hall. She told everyone else that it was proof that she was always right and that everyone should listen to her, which was true enough, but what she didn't say was that it was also a reminder for her that just because she could do something didn't mean she should.

* * *

><p>"So," Tabitha said, looking around at the apartment Sam would be sharing with some of his friends from college. "This is where you're gonna be staying, huh?"<p>

"Yep," Sam said, dropping one of his bags down on the floor.

Tabitha sniffed as she regarded the apartment with disdain. "You're going to have even less privacy than you did at the mansion, and it's going to be cramped. It's not too late to change your mind..."

Sam wrapped his arms around Tabitha's waist and drew her close.

"It's not going to be that bad," he said patiently. "And I'll miss you too."

"Hmph," Tabitha pouted.

"It's not too late for you to move in with me..." Sam said teasingly.

Tabitha pulled a face. "No thanks. Sharing an apartment with a bunch of college guys is not my idea of an ideal situation. Besides, that kind of thing gives people the wrong idea about a girl."


	5. Chapter 5

**AN:**

This chapter contains scenes from _King of Thieves_.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

The new school year began, and although they were busy with classes—whether attending them as a student or teacher—certain people still found the time to indulge in certain computer games. In fact, despite the fact that Bobby was both student and teacher, he decided to begin on a new quest of his own making; which World of Warcraft race has the sexiest women.

_"Call me biased, but blood elves are definitely the sexiest,"_ said John over Ventrillo.

_"Aww, thank you, honey,"_ said Wanda.

"Are you sure that you want to identify with a blood elf?" asked Jubilee. "They look anorexic."

"They do not," said Tabitha. "And besides, they're blood elves. Even if they were anorexic by human standards, they may not be by blood elf standards."

"They're not the sexiest anyway," Bobby said. "I mean, sure, they get the points for having the sexiest flirt emotes, but this is serious research."

Bobby waited until the laughter died down before continuing:

"I have to take everything into consideration here," he said. "Flirts, hips, boobs, voice—"

"Okay," Jubilee said. "I feel that I'm going to regret this, but just what are your findings so far, Bobby?"

"Well, right now, it looks like the draenei women are winning," Bobby replied cheerfully. "They have the sexiest voices and the hips. You should see them run, it's very hot."

_"How come I'm not surprised you picked an Alliance race," _John sneered.

"Hey, you can debate me after you create a draenei female and watch her butt sway from side to side," Bobby replied. "Anyway, the winner of the boobs category are the dwarf women."

_"Another Alliance race," _said John.

"I thought it was going to be a tough decision," Bobby went on blithely, ignoring John, "but it wasn't, not when I realised just how much the dwarves boobies bounce. I mean, most of the boobs do bounce, which I think is a nice, realistic quality that the programmers have decided to throw in there—"

_"Insert snarky comment about them being hard pressed to incorporate that particular detail,"_ said Wanda.

Kitty and Jubilee giggled.

"—but with the dwarves it's like the entire race has never heard of a bra," Bobby said. "Or they have, and universally dismissed it as a bad idea. Their boobs flop around so much I almost expect them to be hit in the face."

_"Oh really?"_ John asked, sounding intrigued.

_"John!"_ Wanda exclaimed.

_"Oh, umm, I mean,"_ John said hurriedly and took on a cynical tone: _"Oh reeeally."_

"Yep, really," Bobby said, and they could even hear his grin. "I haven't decided on sexiest dance yet."

"Well, I think that the orc males are the hottest," said Tabitha.

Kitty lifted her head to look at Tabitha at her desk in the computer room, and grinned at the sound of Wanda's laughter.

_"Yeah those orc men are pretty hunky looking guys,"_ said Wanda.

_"Hey!" _John objected._ "What about trolls?"_

_"Yeah, they're not too bad."_

"The draenei men make me think of Davey Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean," Kitty said. "Night elf guys have some nice muscle definition on them though."

_"Oh yeah? I'll have to check them out,"_ said Wanda.

_"Oh you will, will you?"_ asked John.

_"I want to know how they compare to trolls. Aren't trolls supposed to be descended from night elves? Or is it the other way around?"_

_"Any excuse."_

"See what you've done, Bobby?" Kitty said. "You've got the soon-to-be-married couple fighting. For shame."

"What can I say? I decided it would be more fun to play a female character than a male one," Bobby replied with a shrug and a grin in Kitty's direction. "After all, I'm the one who has to look at it all the time."

"Heh, Bobby's a girl," Tabitha said wickedly.

"I am not," Bobby said. "I just want to play with one."

"Yeah, a girl. A Guy In Real Life," Tabitha said.

"Oh very funny."

* * *

><p>Kitty knocked on Kurt's door and he looked up at her from his packing. In her other hand she held a small present.<p>

"Hey," she said. "Did you need a hand?"

"No," Kurt replied and as he placed the last of the clothes he intended to pack into his suitcase. "But thank you for the offer."

"You're welcome," Kitty said. "Umm, actually we were hoping you could do us a favour? This is a wedding present for Wanda and Pyro."

"Ahh," Kurt said, nodding towards the gift Kitty held out to him. "Of course, I'd be happy to pass it on for you."

"Thanks," Kitty said as Kurt took the present. "Well, umm, I guess if there's nothing I can do to help, I'll leave you to it."

"I am just about done," said Kurt as he zipped up the bag, "but I could do with some company for a few minutes."

Kitty grinned and sat down at a spare spot on the bed. "I can do that."

"I'm a little nervous," Kurt admitted ruefully as he sat down next to her. "I've only done one wedding before."

"I'll sure you'll do fine," Kitty assured him.

"Danke," he said, then sighed and continued: "And I'm afraid that my motives for accepting aren't exactly selfless. I am hoping that I will get a lead on Mystique."

Kitty frowned. "Mystique? Why?"

"She's my mother."

"Oh!" Kitty's lips formed a perfectly round O.

Kurt fidgeted with his fingers. He felt a little awkward still about mentioning it to everyone. He knew that Mystique wasn't really on the X-men's favourite people list.

"My birth mother, if the person who told me was telling the truth," Kurt went on after a short silence. "I suspect that they were, though it may well have been the only truthful thing they told me. I need to meet her and find out for sure."

Kitty nodded. "You should have said something sooner. We could have put you in contact with Rogue."

"Rogue?" Kurt asked, looking at Kitty curiously. "Why Rogue?"

"She's Mystique's adopted daughter," Kitty said with a faint smile. "So I guess that makes her your sister."

Kurt blinked. "A sister."

"They're not exactly on good terms either," Kitty went on. "Apparently she abandoned her as a teenager, and then she was the one to sell Rogue out to Magneto and effectively plot to have her killed. But I also know that Rogue did absorb her during the whole Sentinel thing. Never know, she might know something that can help you."

Kurt nodded thoughtfully. He supposed Storm hadn't known that about Rogue, as he was sure she would have mentioned it to him long before now if she did.

"Danke," he said.

"Well, Rogue'll be at the wedding too. You can always ask her when you see her."

"I will."

* * *

><p>The last thing that Kurt expected to see when the blindfold was taken off was to be in the middle of a neat and tidy residential village. The Brotherhood had picked him up from the airport where the X-men had dropped him off in the Blackbird, and then blindfolded him for the trip after checking for tracking devices.<p>

"It's not that we don't trust you," John had said, "It's more that we don't trust the X-men."

"He is one of the X-men now," Dominic had replied.

"Oh right. Well, I guess that means we don't trust you."

Kurt had taken it in good part. In fact, he was actually a little relieved. After being in on some of the X-men meetings where the Brotherhood came up, Kurt really didn't like the idea of knowing the location of the Brotherhood's base. He didn't want to be in a position where he felt obligated to supply that information.

After the blindfold was taken off, Kurt was shown to a small guest house where he would be staying. He dropped of his bag, and then they took him to the community hall. There were a couple of large rooms; one would be used for the ceremony, and the other the reception. Over their next meal, Kurt, John, and Wanda discussed the finer details of the ceremony and made the appropriate plans.

* * *

><p>The wedding rehearsal was held a few days later. Kurt was the first one at the hall, partly because he didn't have anything better to do, and partly because he knew that Rogue would be arriving today. He was very nervous. He spent some of his waiting time in prayer; asking that things would go well with Rogue, and the wedding too, of course. He felt much calmer afterwards.<p>

After some time, he heard voices outside, Abruptly, the double doors opened.

"Kurt!" Rogue exclaimed, their eyes locking immediately.

Kurt was up and out of his chair just in time for Rogue to run over and wrap him up in a hug. Kurt hugged her back with just as much enthusiasm. The rest of the bridal party came in, all of whom Kurt knew, plus a man with long brown hair, and red and black eyes, who was wearing a baby sling complete with baby.

"Rogue," he greeted. "It is good to see you again."

"I'm guessing you two know each other," Dominic said.

"Duh," said John. "I told you she was there when we met."

"Hey, how have you been?" Rogue asked as she pulled away and looked up at him. "I thought you went back to Germany?"

"I did," Kurt replied with a smile. "I came back. I understand you're married now?"

"Uh huh, oh!" Rogue said, pulling away and turning so she could see both Kurt and Gambit. "Kurt, this is Remy, and this," she went on, gesturing to the bundle sleeping in the baby sling, "is our son, Olivier. Remy, this is my old friend, Kurt."

"Pleasure to meet you," said Gambit, holding out his hand.

"And you as well," Kurt replied as he shook the other man's hand. "Congratulations."

"Merci."

"Yeah, yeah," Mastermind cut in. "Can we get this rehearsal on the road already? I have things to do."

* * *

><p>When the rehearsal came to a close, Kurt made his way over to Rogue and asked if he could talk to her in private for a moment.<p>

"Oh, umm, I guess so," Rogue replied.

"I'll meet you at the car," Gambit said.

Gambit gave Kurt a nod, and then took off with Olivier. Soon Kurt and Rogue were the only ones left in the hall.

"Yes?" Rogue asked.

"I'm not... I'm not really sure how to say this," Kurt said cautiously. "It... I... I recently learned the name of my birth mother."

"Okay..." Rogue said slowly.

"We... it turns out we have something in common," Kurt said. "My mother is Mystique."

Rogue was rendered silent for a long moment and Kurt looked at her anxiously for her reaction.

"So," she said when she finally found her voice, "she abandoned you too, huh?"

"It would seem so," Kurt replied gently. "I hope one day I have a chance to ask her why."

"Every word that woman says is a lie," Rogue snapped.

"Perhaps," Kurt said, a little taken aback at her attitude, but remembering what Kitty had told him, "but I still wish I had the chance to get to know her, as you did."

Rogue sighed.

"I guess I can understand that," she said reluctantly. "I never got to know my birth parents. They died when I was four."

Kurt nodded. "And—regardless of how things go with Mystique—may I consider you my sister?"

He was immediately heartened by the slow smile that appeared on Rogue's lips.

"Sure," she said, "just so long as I can consider you my brother."

"I'd like that."

He followed her outside where she and Gambit had parked. One of the back doors was open and Gambit was half inside with his butt sticking out, playing with Olivier who was now wide awake.

"Hey sugah," Rogue said.

Gambit pulled himself out from the car and turned to look at them. "Hey. Ready to go?"

"Just about," Rogue said and shifted from one foot to the other. "So, umm, it turns out I have a brother. Kurt's Mystique's son."

Kurt felt a little awkward as Gambit glanced at him.

"I can see the resemblance," Gambit said slyly, then cocked his head to the side and asked: "Wait, aren't you a priest?"

"Yes," Kurt replied.

"I bet mama's so proud of you," Gambit said, and Kurt wasn't entirely sure if Gambit was being serious or mocking him.

"I wouldn't know," Kurt said, spreading his hands. "I was adopted as a baby. I only recently found out she was my mother."

"Ahh," Gambit said with a sage nod. "I was adopted as a baby too after I was abandoned at the hospital. I have no idea who my birth parents are."

"Never wanted to find out?"

Gambit shrugged. "If I have the opportunity, I suppose I'd take it, but it's not going to be on my list of regrets when I'm on my death bed."

"I have often wondered about mine, but I didn't think I'd get the chance to find out," Kurt said, and glanced towards Rogue. "I'm hoping to find Mystique and get some answers."

Rogue shook her head. "Sorry, sugah, I can't help you. I'm not in contact with her, and the only things I've absorbed from her are...not relevant to your interests. Or mine either."

She gave a little shudder. Kurt cleared his throat and gestured towards Olivier. "How old is he?"

"Six months," Rogue said, her eyes lighting up as if Kurt had just asked her about her favourite subject. Perhaps he had. "He looks just like his Papa too."

* * *

><p>Finally, the day of the wedding arrived. Kurt was one of the first in the hall, which soon filled with the male half of the bridal party and the guests. Kurt couldn't help but feel that John looked just as nervous as he felt, and somehow the knowledge that he wasn't the only one who was nervous made Kurt feel a whole lot better. With John were Dominic (his best man) and Pietro (his soon-to-be brother-in-law).<p>

The hall filled up, and Kurt waited expectantly for the music to start. Everyone was chatting or otherwise looking down the other end of the hall, waiting. Then two figures appeared in the doorway: Magneto and Mystique. Kurt felt his face light up as his eyes fell on his mother, and for a moment she even met his eyes. Then she turned away and sat down next to Magneto near the front. A couple of the other guests quickly scooted away to make room for them there.

The music began. Rogue was the first down the aisle, then Mastermind, and finally Wanda. Kurt pretended not to notice that Rogue and Wanda were visibly unimpressed with the presence of Magneto and Mystique, and began the ceremony. His heart was pounding, but he was pleased that he managed to make it through the ceremony without stumbling over his words or something.

When the ceremony was over, everyone went outside for photos. Since his part in the wedding was now over, Kurt sought out Mystique, nervous, but determined to have a word with her. It was easily enough to find her; even amongst mutants blue skin did tend to stand out.

"Mystique?" he inquired tentatively.

Mystique turned and looked at him.

"I was... ahem... it's good to see you again," he said, wondering how on earth he was supposed to ask her if she was his mother, especially in this crowd.

"If you say so," Mystique replied distractedly, glancing towards Gambit and Olivier.

Kurt cleared his throat and mentally coaxed himself to say it. Crowd or not, he may not get another chance.

"Do you know someone named Azazel?" he asked.

Mystique stiffened, and she looked back at Kurt with complete attention. "How do you know that name?"

"I met him, kind of, in Germany," Kurt replied. "I never actually saw his face but... He told me you were my mother."

"And you believed him?" Mystique asked, sounding a little strained.

"He said many things to me," Kurt said, "but that was the only thing that had the ring of truth to it. Even so, if you tell me you're not, I will believe you."

Mystique didn't reply straight away, rather she looked towards Rogue, then Gambit and Olivier, and finally back at Kurt.

"It's true," she said, and then barrelled on quickly before Kurt could get another word in: "Azazel. Was he still harping on about being the devil?"

"Yes, actually," Kurt replied. "He said I was a demon too, but I have long dismissed such ideas."

"Good for you," Mystique said. "He is a mutant, but people have been calling him a devil all his life. I think he actually believes it. You say you never saw his face?"

"No," Kurt said, shaking his head. "And he would always disappear whenever anyone else showed up."

"Did he mention who your father was?"

"No, but he did say he saved my life once," Kurt said. "He said I nearly died when I was a baby, but he saved me and gave me to Margali—the woman who raised me. I did not know if I should believe that though."

Mystique swallowed hard.

"Well, Margali did a good job," she said and turned away. "If you see Azazel again, you should try to get a good look at him. Now, if you'll excuse me."

Kurt wanted to follow, but didn't. He had a feeling he had gotten everything from her that he was going to get right now. Hopefully they'd have a chance to talk more in private sometime.

After the photos, everyone headed to the reception. Kurt tried not to be too obvious about it, but he couldn't seem to take his eyes from Mystique. He still had so many questions for her. And it seemed that she had a great deal of interest in Rogue and Olivier, for Mystique lost little time in approaching them. Even if Kurt hadn't been watching Mystique, it would have been hard for him to miss their confrontation: Rogue was not shy about raising her voice.

"He ain't your grandson," Rogue said, glaring at Mystique as she moved in between her and Olivier. "You lost the chance to claim any children of mine as your grandchildren the day you abandoned me, and you nailed the coffin shut when you sold me out to Magneto and conspired to kill me."

"It's not that simple... Rogue," Mystique replied tersely.

"I'd say it _is_ that simple, Mystique," Gambit said. "Perhaps you should move along."

"Irene was a precog—" Mystique began.

"No, really?" Rogue asked sarcastically. "I was young, not stupid."

"She said we had to leave, that your life—"

"I don't want to hear your excuses," Rogue snapped. "Go away and don't come near me or my family again."

"Now my dear," said Magneto, practically sneaking up on them from behind, "let's not make a scene. It's Wanda's wedding."

"Ha!" Mystique said scornfully as Pietro and Wanda joined them as well. "You're no more happy with your daughter's choice of husband than I am with mine."

"Nevertheless, it is her decision," Magneto replied.

"I'm surprised you even respect that," Wanda said glaring at him, her arms folded across her chest. "What the hell are you doing here? You weren't invited."

"I know," Magneto replied calmly. "I assumed it was because you had nowhere to send the invitation. Ahh... so this is the new LeBeau."

Gambit looked at Magneto and then back at Rogue as Magneto peered over his shoulder to look at Olivier, who was quite contently drinking from his bottle.

"How fortunate you are to have a sign of his mutation so early," Magneto went on. "You'd be surprised at just how often two mutant parents can produce a... human... child."

Magneto said the word 'human' like it was something revolting he had to pick up and was trying to keep it as far away from his person as he could. Mystique pursed her lips.

"You know what?" said Pietro tersely. "I'm going to go."

He zipped off before anyone could say a word to stop him. Wanda's glare deepened.

"You are such a bastard," she said, glowering at Magneto. "That was completely unnecessary."

"That doesn't stop it from being true, my dear," Magneto replied. "Come Mystique, I believe we have worn out our welcome. Congratulations... to all of you."

* * *

><p>Storm saw the car pull up at the gates to the school while she was out gardening, and curiosity sent her flying in their direction. They weren't expecting anyone.<p>

The driver of the car evidentially spotted her on her way, for he got out of the car. Storm caught her breath as she landed on the other side of the gate and stared at the man in the red quartz glasses standing before her like she'd seen a ghost.

"Hi Ororo," he said.

Storm shook her head, having trouble believing this was even real. "Scott?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Logan growled under his breath as he eyed off Scott Summers and his wife Madelyne sitting on the lounge in the staff room with Storm and Hank. As much as he hated to admit it, Scott smelled just like Scott. Madelyne smelled a lot like Jean—looked like her too—but not completely.

"I don't understand," said Storm, looking more at her cup of tea than their unexpected company. "If you've been alive all this time, why didn't you ever tell us? Why..."

"Because by the time I escaped from Sinister, you guys already thought I was dead," Scott replied. "Not to mention Jean and the Professor. What was I supposed to do? Walk in and say, 'oh hey guys, the guy you buried wasn't really me, it was a clone that Sinister replaced me with.'"

"Yes!" Storm exclaimed the same time Logan said: "We never buried a body at all; Phoenix disintegrated it."

Scott let out a long, slow breath and shook his head. "I always knew Jean was powerful, but Phoenix? I could hardly believe it."

"Believe it, bub," Logan said, then nodded towards Madelyne. "And just how does the broad come into all of this?"

"My _name_ is Madelyne," she said, glaring at him.

"I moved back to Alaska when... when I found out you guys thought I was dead," Scott said, reaching over and taking his wife's hand in his. "I stayed with my grandparents, and that's when I met Maddy. She's a charter pilot—I am too, now."

"She one of Sinister's clones too?" Logan asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

"I most certainly am not," Madelyne replied, affronted. "I don't even have any mutant powers."

"And Sinister's pretty obsessed with mutants," Scott said. "Besides, if she was a clone of Jean, he would have had to create her when Jean was still a kid, and he had to transfer my memories to my clone in order for him to replace me perfectly."

"I have clear, concise memories of my childhood," Madelyne added firmly. "Not to mention every other year of my life. And as far as we know, none of those memories are any that Jean would have had."

"No, we're satisfied that Maddy's not a clone, it's just an uncanny resemblance," Scott said, smiling fondly at his wife. "Look, guys, I'm sorry about not coming forward earlier, but you guys thought I was dead, and I just... I didn't think I had anything to come home to. I had a chance to start a new life, and I decided to take it. But now..."

"Sinister has taken our son," Madelyne said, swallowing hard.

"You have a son?" Storm asked.

Scott nodded and pulled out his wallet so he could show her the pictures.

"Nathan Christopher Charles Summers," Scott said. "He's two and a half years old."

"He's adorable," Storm said, looking at the photos and feeling very much like she just found out she had a nephew. "And you're sure it was Sinister?"

"Convinced of it," Scott said without a single shred of doubt in his tone. "Scalphunter's not exactly very subtle about his abductions."

"Scalphunter?" Storm asked.

Scott nodded. "Sinister's Marauders: Scalphunter, Blockbuster, Harpoon, Scrambler, Riptide, Vertigo, Lady Mastermind, and our old friend, Sabretooth."

"Sabretooth?" Logan repeated, instantly alert.

"Yeah. He looks a lot different than he did our last meeting though. I almost didn't recognise him at first," Scott said.

"Short black hair?" Logan asked.

"Yep."

Logan growled.

"Sabretooth decided to pay Logan a visit a few months ago," Hank explained to Scott's puzzled look. "We thought he was still with the Brotherhood."

"Possibly. They're not always all there at the same time, maybe half the Marauders at most at a time, except on 'special' occasions. What they do elsewhere—aside from kidnapping mutants for Sinister's experiments—I have no idea," Scott said. "Look, guys, I understand if you're angry with me for taking off and not contacting you, but we need your help to get Nate back. I know where the base is, but Maddy and I can't take on the Marauders alone."

"Of course we'll help you, Scott," Storm said firmly, handing the photos back to him. "And I only have one condition."

"Anything," Scott replied urgently.

"You don't get to just disappear on us again after we get Nate back," Storm said, brandishing a finger at him. "You have a phone, call us occasionally."

Scott grinned. "Done. And I'm sorry, 'Ro."

"So you should be."

* * *

><p>To say that the younger X-men were completely shocked when they caught up with Scott and Madelyne would be putting it mildly. Shock gave way to joy, denial, and anger, and Storm was not the only one who scolded Scott for letting them think he was dead all this time.<p>

One of the more curious meetings was between Scott and Kurt. Kurt recognised Scott, but Scott hadn't met him before in his life.

"You must have met my clone," said Scott after the moment of confusion had passed. "Stryker sent Lady Deathstrike to pick up myself and Professor Xavier when we went to visit Magneto, and Sinister evidentially decided that Stryker didn't get the privilege of experimenting on me twice, so he sent his Marauders after us. They replaced me with a clone, and I ended up Sinister's guinea pig instead."

Madelyne rubbed Scott's shoulder gently.

"Twice?" Kitty asked curiously.

Scott nodded. "When I was a teenager, I got abducted, ironically, by Sabretooth on behalf of Stryker. Why is that guy always involved in my abductions? Dark haired Sabretooth, as I recall, both times."

The younger X-men were filled in on what had happened, and after everyone had some time to deal with the fact that their old friend and teacher was alive and well, they settled down for some planning. Scott had plans drawn up of Sinister's base, all done from memory, and then lectured them on the Marauders; who they were and what they were capable of.

"Lady Mastermind," Tabitha said with a frown. "That name rings a bell."

"The Brotherhood," said Kurt. "There was a woman, Mastermind, who was one of Wanda's bridesmaids."

"So is that a coincidence, or is Mastermind working for both?" asked Tabitha, looking at the group.

"Lady Mastermind," Scott corrected firmly. "She gets testy if you shorten it."

"Really?" Kurt asked curiously. "The Mastermind I met never stated a preference; everyone called her Mastermind."

"Maybe there are two Masterminds," Bobby suggested. "It's not like mutant names are copyrighted or anything."

"Well, either way, Lady Mastermind is an illusionist and a telepath," Scott said, and continued his lecture.

After the meeting came to a close, Scott and Kitty went to the Danger Room to program a simulation of Sinister's base for them to practice in. It wouldn't be perfect, neither would the simulations of the Marauders, but it would give them some chance to warm up and prepare before doing the real thing.

* * *

><p>The X-men did not dare to delay long, not when the life of a little boy was at stake. They crammed in as much of Scott's briefing as they could, made allowances for the students, and set out with the hope that Scott's intel, although many years old, wouldn't be too much out of date.<p>

The team was made up of Scott, Logan, Storm, Bobby, Piotr, Paige and Psylocke, and they planned the attack for a weekend where they could get away with minimal supervision for the students. They left first thing in the morning, for Scott had observed that certain Marauders were more prone to things like hangovers and sleeping in, especially on Saturday mornings. This was why he chose to escape during a morning, rather than in that afternoon or at night, when he had been held prisoner there.

Hank, Kitty, Tabitha and Kurt saw them off, and were left with the task of waiting. Since the Marauders were hardly the only ones who were into sleeping in on Saturday mornings, none of the students were up either, so they didn't have a whole lot to do at that moment.

Hank went about checking that his medlab was in order. Although no one liked to say it, the reality was that if fighting broke out—which they were expecting it would—then people would get hurt. Kurt assisted him. There wasn't really much for them to do, as Hank always kept the med lab in good order, and they ended up doing more talking than working. They also kept an ear out for the communications in case the team tried to contact them. Kitty decided to busy herself by preparing a large breakfast for everyone; normally people got their own breakfast on Saturdays, but Kitty was feeling restless.

Tabitha was the only one who was able to relax, which she did so by playing World of Warcraft. Since none of the other X-men were on, or even any of the students, Tabitha quite happily signed onto her blood elf rogue, and checked the guild roster to find that a couple of others were online. She signed into Ventrillo and put on her headphone.

"Hey all," Tabitha said.

_"Hey. Tabitha, right?"_ came Rogue's voice.

"Yep," said Tabitha, having another glance at the guild roster and not seeing Rogue's tauren druid listed. "Created an alt, didja?"

_"Yup. I'm the blood elf mage. The orc rogue is my new friend, Gris Gris."_

_"Hey,"_ said a man's voice, presumably 'Gris Gris'. _"We're friends now, are we?"_

_"Well, we're not colleagues, and we're not quite acquaintances, and you are staying here as our guest... I think 'friend'll do,"_ Rogue said merrily.

"Sounds complicated," Tabitha said. "How come you guys are on so early?"

_"Olivier," _Rogue said, as if this explained everything.

"I see."

_"What about you?"_

"Oh the X-men are on a mission," Tabitha replied. "Someone had to stay back and see them off and look after the kiddly-winkles."

_"Lucky you."_

"I'm thrilled to pieces. I get to play WoW."

Rogue laughed.

* * *

><p>Two hours after the team left, those waiting back at the mansion finally heard back from them. It wasn't good. In fact, Piotr's opening line was "Hank! Prepare for incoming wounded."<p>

It wasn't until after the Blackbird finally got there that they realised just how bad it was. Bobby was in iceform, but had whole chunks missing from his body and was afraid to change back into human form. Logan was covered in blood, his uniform had more holes in it than Swiss cheese, and he actually had been in danger of bleeding to death on the flight over, but fortunately his healing factor seemed to have kicked in enough to deal with that. As it was, he was still unconscious. Storm's left arm and leg were both broken. Scott was bleeding badly with a collection of calcium shurikens sticking out of his right side. Piotr and Paige were fortunately still intact as their alternate forms had been sufficient to protect them.

Psylocke was dead. She had been gutted by Sabretooth.

Hank was immediately on the phone, calling up an old contact of his, Cecelia Reeves, and at the same time trying to attend to their wounds. Kurt got Cecelia's address as soon as she agreed to come, and set out on a series of teleports to get her and bring back to the mansion as quickly as possible. After so many teleports, the latter half with a passenger, Kurt had to bow out of being able to help any more; he was too exhausted.

Cecelia and Hank worked on Scott together, and it was hours before they were done. Even then, they weren't sure if he would make it.

"If he gets through the night, he'll have a chance," Hank told a distraught Madelyne.

It was only Bobby they didn't know how to help. If he went back to his human form as he was, given the pieces of his body that were missing, he would die. It was a reality that Bobby knew long before Hank reluctantly told him, and Bobby took off to be alone for awhile, in an attempt to come to terms with the fact that he may be stuck in iceform for the rest of his life.

* * *

><p>Despite their losses, Storm was not willing to give up. The following day, she called in Kitty and Kurt.<p>

"I cannot in good conscience give up Nate Summers," Storm said. "If you're willing—and I will understand if you're not after what happened yesterday—I would like for you two to go in. Of all of us, you two have the best chance of getting in and out unseen and unhurt. I hope that stealth will succeed where force failed."

Perhaps the part that worried Storm the most was that they'd only encountered four Marauders; Sabretooth, Riptide, Blockbuster and Veritgo. Four out of eight, and they were thoroughly trounced. She didn't like to think about the possibility of meeting all eight Marauders at once.

"Of course I'll go, Storm," Kitty said. "Nate's still in trouble, and I can't just sit by and do nothing, or let all of this be in vain."

"I will too," Kurt said.

"Thank you. I'm sorry that we can't provide you with any more intel than we already had," Storm said.

"We'll manage," Kitty assured her.

Kurt and Kitty decided not to waste time, and set off for Sinister's base only a few hours later. It was dark by the time they arrived, but that was all to the better as Kurt had a knack for disappearing into shadows. Kitty was unable to hack into Sinister's surveillance system. They found a wall of his base, Kitty stuck her head through to check what was on the other side, and phased them both through after determining that it was empty.

Kitty and Kurt crept silently and cautiously through Sinister's eerily quiet base, and used their powers liberally. As they descended into the lower levels, they started to realised that for such a big place it was strangely empty. At one point they stopped in a small, bare room.

"There used to be things in this room," Kurt said, gesturing to a few marks on the walls and patches of floor that didn't have nearly as much ingrained dirt and dust as the rest.

Once they noticed such things in one room, though, they began to notice the same in other rooms. Both had an idea of what it might mean, but neither were willing to voice the possibility.

Then they came to one room, a lab, which was not only fully furnished, but also still occupied. Manacled to the table was a woman of Japanese descent, wearing only the barest minimum to preserve her dignity, if any dignity could be found in such a place.

_"Kitty?"_

Kitty big her lip. The voice she heard in her head sounded just like Psylocke. But Psylocke was dead. Kitty tried to ignore it.

_"Kurt? Is that you?"_

"Who is there?" Kurt asked, looking around.

_"It's me, Betsy!" _Psylocke said in a telepathic voice that was half-sob. _"Oh please, please help me."_

"Betsy?" Kitty asked, both disturbed by the contact and relieved that Kurt had heard the voice too. "Where... where are... No, no you're dead. Sabretooth ripped you open!"

Kitty swallowed hard and tried not to cry. This was a horrible place! The sooner they got out of here, the better.

_"I'm right here. I'm on the table,"_ Psylocke said. _"I'm in the body on the table. Her name's Kwannon; she's telekinetic and there's something blocking her powers. Please, you have to get us out of here. Sinister... After the attack he decided to pack up and leave. He took Nate with him."_

Kurt and Kitty looked at each other. The thought that this might be a trap occurred to Kitty, after all, didn't Scott say that there was an illusionist amongst the Marauders? Maybe this whole situation was one big illusion.

_"No! Please, this is real!" _Psylocke said desperately. _"Please, you have to believe me. I've only seen part of Kwannon's memories, but bloody hell, the things that this guys does... You can't leave me here. You can't!"_

"Of course we won't leave you here," Kurt said firmly, making his way over to her side.

_"Oh thank you, thank you," _Psylocke said.

"But how are you still alive?" Kitty demanded.

Before Psylocke could respond, Kurt put his hands on her and teleported her out of the restraints.

_"My mind was on the astral plane when Sabretooth killed my body,"_ Psylocke explained as soon as the teleport was done. _"I was able to find refuge in Kwannon's body. Kwannon's mind... I think she might be a clone. There are huge tracts of memories missing. There's plenty of technical memories and knowledge, like knowing how to speak Japanese, but there's nothing personal here. Nothing except the torture Sinister's been putting her through. I can't stay here though. It's only a matter of time before Kwannon's mind rejects mine, or we end up merging and becoming one and the same."_

"Well, there's not really a lot we can do about that," Kitty pointed out as she inspected the lab. "We don't exactly have any spare, living, mindless bodies hanging around."

_"The cloning lab is downstairs,"_ Psylocke said. _"The cloning chambers are portable exactly because Sinister wants to be able to pack up his lab at a moment's notice. I don't know how they work, but if you take a chamber, I know there's samples of my DNA at the mansion."_

"And we clone you a new body," Kitty said and she took a deep breath. "Okay, well, I won't make any promises, but we should probably double-check and make sure that Nate isn't here—not that I don't believe you, but I want to be able to tell Scott and Madelyne that we were thorough in our search. If we can get a chamber we will. Ah ha!"

"What's 'ah ha'?" Kurt asked, glancing over at Kitty as she leaned over one of counters near a computer monitor.

"I found me a computer that's still logged into the network," Kitty said smugly. "I'm gonna download everything I can onto the hard drive and we can take it with us. With any luck, we'll find out where Sinister's base is."

_"Or even how the cloning machine works," _Psylocke suggested.

"That's a possibility too."

"Well, while you get started on that," said Kurt, "I will get Psylocke to the Blackbird."

Kitty have Kurt a bare nod as she got to work on the computer. Kurt picked up Psylocke carefully and teleported to the Blackbird just as he said. He did his best to make her comfortable, and then teleported back to Kitty.

"Okay, this is going to be awhile," Kitty said when Kurt returned. "We should come back to it."

Kurt nodded and they continued on their exploration. They saw neither hide nor hair of the Marauders or Sinister on their way down to the cloning rooms. Both were quite shock at just how many cloning chambers there were, or rather, how many cloning chambers there should have been; there was plenty of empty spaces where they would have stood, clearly marked by the dust on the floor. The five chambers they did find were all empty. They were also quite thick and tall, and only one would fit in the Blackbird.

"Can you teleport it into the Blackbird?" Kitty asked.

Kurt considered, looking at the chambers thoughtfully. "I don't usually teleport this much extra mass."

"It is empty inside," Kitty said in a hopeful attempt at being helpful.

"True, but the size is also an issue," Kurt said. "I will have to teleport back to the Blackbird first and figure out the best place and position to teleport it to, else it may end up through a chair or something."

"And it probably won't be any good to us then," Kitty said.

"I won't be either, I'm afraid," Kurt said, turning to Kitty seriously. "This is calling for a large, precise teleport, a fair distance away, since we didn't want to risk the Blackbird being see anywhere near here. Once I teleport the chamber, I won't be teleporting anything else."

Kitty nodded. "In that case, we should check on the computer first. If you can teleport that to the Blackbird first, that'll save me having to carry it out, and potentially damaging it if I have to phase."

"Let's finish our inspection, then get the computer," Kurt said. "I'll teleport it back, do my reconnaissance, and then get the chamber."

"And while you're doing that, I'll return to the Blackbird by foot."

There was very little more of the base to explore, although they did find the room where Nate had likely been kept. Even knowing that Sinister had a toddler on his hands Kitty hadn't expected to find a nursery in his lair; certainly not one with pictures of Thomas the Tank Engine on the walls. Even with no furniture left in it, walking into the nursery was like walking into another world by comparison.

Kurt and Kitty headed back to the lab where Kitty had set up the computer. It still had a few minutes to go, so they waited around impatiently until it was done. Kitty shut the computer down and Kurt teleported off. Once Kurt was gone, Kitty started the long trek back through the base and back to the Blackbird.

Having seen no sign of the Marauders, Kitty wasn't quite as cautious as she should have been on the way out; she relaxed even more when a weary-sounding Kurt contacted her to report that he had teleported the chamber safely and all was ready to go.

The last thing she expected when she phased through the front door was to walk right through one of the Marauders. He was armed with a few six foot long, barbed harpoons. His partner was pretty much the biggest man Kitty had ever seen, and it was all muscle. Going on Scott's descriptions, these were Harpoon and Blockbuster. She took a moment to recover from the shock and ran for it just as Blockbuster yelled "X-man!"

Kitty ran as fast as she could. She made herself tangible again long enough to yell into her comm for Kurt to close up the Blackbird, she was being chased, and be prepared to leave as soon as she got there. She felt conscious of Blockbuster's heavy footsteps behind her and went intangible again.

Kitty went through the motions of giving a little scream when one of Harpoon's bio-kinetically charged harpoons abruptly appeared in the ground in front of her. The charge actually felt like it burned her as it went through, which was unusual, as there were few things that could actually touch her while in phase. Still, the alternate result was actually being impaled by it, so she wasn't of a mind to complain.

At last she made it to the Blackbird, Blockbuster still on her tail. Kitty bounded up the ramp which began to close almost as soon as she was on it. The Blackbird, under Kurt's hand, began to lift and was out of reach by the time Blockbuster got to them. With relief she went to sit down on one of the seats, and immediately phased through it. Fortunately, she caught herself before she phased through the floor of the Blackbird completely.

"Kitty?" Kurt asked, glancing back at her. "You okay?"

Kitty started to say that she was fine, but no words came out of her mouth and for some reason she couldn't seem to make herself tangible again. She stared down at her hands and tried to concentrate, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't solidify.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN:**

This chapter contains a scene from _King of Thieves_.

Also, I meant to mention this at the end of last chapter and forgot: Kitty really did get stuck in phase by one of Harpoon's harpoons in the comics, during the Morlock Massacre. She was actually in the process of saving Rogue's life at the time (Rogue had been depowered by Scrambler). It took Mr Fantastic and Dr Doom working together to enable Kitty to solidify again. They will not be making an appearance in this story though ;)

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

Storm looked up from her bed in the med lab as Hank entered with a gentleman she hadn't seen before. Her left arm and leg were both in casts.

"Storm," Hank said, "I'd like to introduce you to my friend, Forge. He was the one who invented Magneto's plastic prison. Forge, this is our Headmistress, Storm."

"A pleasure to meet you," Forge said with a nod.

"Likewise," Storm replied. "I would shake your hand, but that is a little awkward for me at the moment."

"So I see," Forge said sympathetically.

"Forge has a genius for invention," Hank went on. "I brought him in to look at that cloning chamber and see if he can do anything to help Kitty."

"I thought you knew what was wrong?" Storm asked with a frowned.

"I do. I just don't have the expertise to do anything about it," Hank replied.

Storm nodded. "Well, I guess you had better get started then. If there is anything you need, Forge, let us know."

"I shall," Forge said.

The men departed Storm's room, and headed into another room of the med lab, where Kitty was lying on the bed—in a manner of speaking—and Psylocke was sitting beside her.

"Kitty, Betsy," Hank said. "This is my friend Forge."

"Hi," Psylocke said and Kitty lifted a hand to wave at him.

"Forge, these are Betsy and Kitty," Hank went on. "Betsy has...recently had to change bodies. Her original body was killed while she was on the astral plane—she's a telepath—and she's taken up residence in Kwannon's body. We're hoping you may be able to help up determine how the cloning chamber works so that we can clone Betsy's original body."

Forge nodded.

"Kitty's mutant ability is to make herself intangible. Unfortunately, while in an intangible state, she was attacked by a bio-kinetically charged harpoon. The charge appears to have disrupted the electrical impulses between her molecules and she is slowly disintegrating as the molecules move further and further away," Hank said gravely. "It's only a matter of days before..."

"Obviously Kitty's our priority then," Forge said, with a nod towards Betsy, who merely acknowledged that this was only right. "Can I look at the data you've collected? I should warn you now, my own powers of invention do have their limits."

"I consider myself warned," Hank replied.

* * *

><p>In less than twenty-four hours later, Forge had conjured up a 'containment chamber', into which Kitty made herself at home. It wouldn't fix the problem, but it would slow down the disintegration process from a matter of days to a few months. At the very least it bought them time. In between attempting to create a machine that would do what they wanted (Forge advised Hank that even with his mutant powers, there were some inventions that took months, even years to put together), Forge looked at the cloning chamber.<p>

"There's a bio-gel inside," Hank told Storm. "We believe that Sinister injects the DNA sample into the bio-gel, and it's from that the clone is made. Going from what Madelyne, Piotr, and Paige have found in Sinister's files so far, it takes a few months for a clone to fully form."

"A few months will be too late," said Psylocke, and Hank turned to see her standing in the doorway. "My personality will have become indistinguishable from Kwannon's in a few months. The merging has already begun."

"I'm sorry, Betsy," Hank said sympathetically. "I'm afraid that—"

"Use the chamber to clone Kitty," Psylocke said, not wanting to hear what Hank would have said. "If that containment chamber can hold her long enough, I can transfer her mind to the new body when the time comes."

Hank nodded slowly. "If you're sure."

"I am."

* * *

><p>Kitty watched while Hank headed into the freezer room to collect the sample of her DNA they had. She looked at Psylocke.<p>

_"Are you sure about this?" _Kitty asked. _"We stole the cloning chamber for you."_

_"I know, and I appreciate your concern," _Psylocke replied, placing her hand on the clear, round wall of the containment chamber. _"But you need this more than I do."_

_"They don't even know if they can save me—"_

_"And it'll be months before the clone is done,"_ Psylocke said firmly. _"By then the damage will be well and truly done; Kwannon and I will be one and the same. It's going to be confusing as hell, because I'm in the physically twenty-year-old clone body of a woman who's a forty-or-something-year-old ninja. But hey, good news, with these new skills I might even be able to hold my own against Logan in the DR now."_

Kitty laughed in her mind and body, although no sound came out.

* * *

><p>Bobby scratched his head, although this was more a subconscious action, as his icy head wasn't even itchy. Of course, he was also sitting at the dinner table with everyone else, even though he couldn't even eat in his iceform.<p>

"So, you're saying we can't bring Kitty up here for Christmas? She has to stay in the med lad?" he asked.

"I'm afraid so, Bobby," Hank replied solemnly. "For best results, the containment chamber has to stay where it is."

"Well, that sucks," Bobby said. "It's bad enough we can't even talk to her without using Betsy as an intermediary—no offence Betsy, I'm sure you hate being used as an intermediary—but now she has to miss out on Christmas as well."

"I'm sure that Kitty will not mind," Piotr said. "She does not celebrate Christmas."

"Oh yeah, I forgot she was Jewish," Bobby said, considered, and then hopped up out of his chair. "No matter! If Kitty can't attend the holiday celebrations, then the holiday will just have to attend her!"

"Where are you going?" Tabitha asked as Bobby started to race off.

"To my brand new ice-proof computer!" Bobby said, walking backwards so he could look at her. "Thank you, Forge. I need to Google Hanukkah."

* * *

><p>"Kurt! Phone!" Tabitha called, and Kurt looked up from the television where he was watching <em>Pirates of the Caribbean <em>with the Storm. "It's Rogue."

"Oh, thank you," Kurt said.

Kurt gave Storm a nod as he stood, then he left the room and located the nearest phone. He hadn't actually heard from Rogue since Wanda and John's wedding, and he made a mental note to change that, particularly now that he knew for certain that she really was his sister.

"Hello, Rogue?" he said.

"Hi Kurt," Rogue replied. "Umm, how are you doing?"

"I'm well, thank you," Kurt replied. "And yourself?"

"Good, good," Rogue said. "Uhh, well, the reason why I'm calling is... well, I kinda ran into Mystique last week."

"I see."

"And I, umm, absorbed her."

"Okay," Kurt said patiently.

"And well... I kinda found out a few things. About us," Rogue said and then went on quickly: "I found out why she abandoned me, which I really don't want to go into right now, but... well, I also found out what happened to you, and I just... I mean I don't know if you ever got the chance to talk to her at the wedding or if she'll ever tell you if you ask next time you see each other, and I knew you wanted to know... Uhh, would you like me to tell you?"

There was a long silence as Kurt took in Rogue's words. This was something he had wanted to asked Mystique about directly, but he hadn't seen her since the wedding either, and he had no way of knowing when he might have a chance for a private chat.

"I... yes," he said finally, feeling nervous.

"Okay," Rogue said. "Well, Mystique was married at the time, sort of—she was using a different shape, you know, looking like a normal person? So her husband never knew who she really was. Anyway, when you were born, you were born blue and fuzzy and with a tail, and the doctor and her husband kind of freaked."

"Ahh," Kurt said ruefully. "Used to that reaction."

"Yeah, anyway, the exact sequence of events is a little fuzzy, but everyone figured you were a demon and Mystique ended up running off with you. Except they were chasing her and she was crossing this bridge and... well... you went over the edge. Mystique was able to escape by blending into the crowd, but yeah... She thought you died, which was why she never went after you and it wasn't until you showed up with us that she realised you were even alive."

Kurt nodded thoughtfully. He remembered talking to Mystique and asking her why she didn't just turn into a 'normal' person, and she had responded that they shouldn't have to. All of sudden those words seemed to take on a whole other meaning.

"Thank you," Kurt said, abruptly realising Rogue couldn't see him nod.

"There's something else too," Rogue said. "We, ahh, we have a brother."

"Oh?"

"His name's Graydon Creed. He's Sabretooth's son," Rogue said, paused and then asked: "Do you know Sabretooth?"

"Only by reputation," Kurt said, thinking of what the man had done to Logan and Psylocke.

"Probably better that way," Rogue said dryly. "Anyway, they kinda dumped him once they realised he was human. Baseline human, that is."

"That's disappointing," Kurt said. "That they abandoned him, not that he was born human, I mean."

"Yeah, I feel his pain," Rogue said.

* * *

><p>Instead of meeting in the War Room as they normally would, the X-men gathered in the med lab so that Kitty could be involved. Scott was still wounded, but he was recovering. Storm was really looking forward to getting the casts off. Everyone left Bobby a wide birth, as he could only contain his cold temperature so much, and anyone near him ended up needing a winter jacket. He was trying not to take it to heart. Psylocke sat by the containment chamber while Kitty looked on.<p>

"We haven't pinpointed Sinister's new base yet," Madelyne said as head of the team delving into Sinsiter's files, "but we have found some likely locations."

"I don't suppose we've won the jackpot at all and found some floor plans?" Tabitha asked.

"I wish," Madelyne replied.

"If the old base is any indication," Kurt said, "then Nate is being kept in the most secure part of the new one."

"And unlike yours and Kitty's trip, we can't expect the next mission to have so few Marauders onsite," Storm said. "We should even expect to run into Sinister."

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm not all that eager to get my butt handed to me again," Bobby said, "almost literally."

"We can't just do nothing—" Madelyne began.

"No one's suggesting that," Scott said quickly. "What my friends are trying to say is that we need to be smarter about it next time."

Madelyne visibly relaxed into her chair.

"Do not worry, Madelyne," Storm said comfortingly. "We have no intention of allowing Sinister to keep your son from you. However, the possession of a _Thomas the Tank Engine_ themed room at least suggests that he is being looked after."

"You don't _know_ that," Madelyne insisted.

"No, we do not, we can only surmise," Storm replied calmly.

"It's hope, anyway," said Jubilee. "I'd happily accept that any day of the week."

"How are we going to play this smarter though?" asked Bobby. "Stage a fire drill? Somehow I don't think that Sinister's the kind of guy who runs outside and waits for the fire department to show up."

"I do not think so either, but we should continue to think along those lines," Storm said.

A long silence followed while everyone considered this. An idea occurred to Storm, but she pushed it to the back of her mind.

"Well, in other news," Tabitha said when the silence dragged out, "I've heard from Sam. He wanted us to know that the fake fight we staged between him and Psylocke worked; between the news story and the photos of the body—thanks Betsy—Sam's been recruited."

"Does he know how serious the Friends of Humanity are yet?" Bobby asked urgently.

Tabitha nodded. "Oh, these guys are serious, all right. Sam was given access to a peer-to-peer network and the stuff on there is... Well, Sam didn't give me all the details, but he said it's nasty business. A lot of the folks there use fake names and stuff, so it's still relatively anonymous, but there's also more of a 'community' feel to it than there was in the public forum. Photos and videos of violence against mutants are more frequently shared. Sam's still working on it, but a lot of the folks there keep kill counts."

_"He thinks he can find '100'?" _Kitty asked through Psylocke, who was projecting Kitty's comments to the group.

"In a manner of speaking. As I said most of them still use fake names—"

_"Doesn't matter. If I can get an IP address, I can track them down,"_ Kitty insisted.

"Okay, well, you're the computer genius, so I'll take your word on that," said Tabitha. "Anyway, so Sam's looking to see if he can find out who '100' is. But, from what he was saying, tracking down '100' is the least of our troubles. These guys organise stuff. They share information on where mutants are and then plot to band up and kill them. Sam's checking to see if they know anything about the school—very, very carefully."

"Speaking of which," said Logan, "just how are you and Sam staying in contact?"

He knew that they had intended on keeping Sam's contact with the school down to a minimum, but no one had let him in on just how they were staying in contact with him. Tabitha grinned.

"Well, I'd tell you, but you don't like it when we bring up a certain game during meetings," Tabitha said slyly.

Logan growled. "World of Warcraft?"

"You said it, not me," Tabitha said with fiendish delight. "And we can do it without even saying 'mutant' or 'Friends of Humanity' or anything, so if anyone did happen to check up on Sam's gaming, they wouldn't know anything was being passed on."

"If it works, I do not care how they do it," Storm said, looking toward Logan.

Logan grumbled.

"Speaking of which," Piotr said. "It turned out to be a good thing that we advised the Brotherhood of our intentions to, uhh, 'stage Psylocke's death' as it were. John told us they heard about it and they definitely would have acted—especially because it was an X-man death."

"Just how much did you tell them?" Storm asked.

"Not much. As far as they know we were laying a trap for someone. They seemed to understand that we wouldn't give them all the details," Piotr said.

"Good. I wouldn't put it past them to try and use Sam's position to their benefit," Storm said, "and not necessarily ours, or the long-term benefit of anyone else."

"I'm sure they wouldn't try to hurt Sam or anything," Tabitha said with a frown.

"Maybe not intentionally," Storm said. "But we can't have Sam spying for two different people at once."

"He, that would make him a triple agent," Bobby said with a snicker. "You know, instead of a double agent..."

_"Yes, we get it Bobby," _Kitty said.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, a man in his mid-to-late twenties was sitting down at his computer. He was in a foul mood; he'd been recently caught doing illegal street racing and amongst other things his motorcycle had been impounded. Still, he had found something that helped take his mind off his troubles: the Friends of Humanity.<p>

**CageFighter:**  
>There was this one time I beat the crap out of this mutie in a cage fight<p>

**Chud03:**  
>not this story again<p>

**CageFighter:**  
>Didn't know he was a mutie until after the fight when he didn't have a scratch on him<br>and then he grows these six shiny 16 inch claws and slices the barkeeps gun in half!

**Chud03:**  
>The last time you told this story they were only 14 inches<p>

**Tribune:**  
>12 inches the time before that<p>

**Farmboy:**  
>Don't you think Wolverine's tough enough without exaggerating things?<p>

**CageFighter:**  
>Blah blah blah<p>

**Chud03:**  
>he aint that tough Framboy<br>i think your a coward

**Tribune:**  
>Now now<br>The whole point of the FoH is so we can band together to take down the muties that are too tough for us to handle by ourselves  
>Once we track down where Wolverine is we'll take him as a team<p>

**Farmboy:**  
>Good idea<p>

**Racer55:**  
>I think I've met Wolverine<br>He came around to my bar looking for his daughter

**Farmboy:**  
>He has a daughter?<p>

**Chud03:**  
>their breeding now?<br>great thats all we need

**Racer55:**  
>Yeah he has a daughter<br>I met her too

**Tribune:**  
>Of course they're breeding<br>They've been breeding for generations now  
>Muties are hardly a 'new' thing<p>

**Racer55:**  
>Didn't know she was a mutie straight away<p>

**CageFighter:**  
>Yeah thats the worst part<br>most of them look just like us

**Tribune:**  
>Tell me about this daughter<p>

**Racer55:**  
>She had a white streak of hair and really long bone claws that came out of her hands<p>

**Chud03:**  
>how long r they and r they going 2 keep growing in length every time u tell the story?<p>

**Racer55:**  
>And she was able to crush my friend's gun just by looking at it<p>

**Farmboy:**  
>Wow<p>

**Racer55:**  
>I stabbed her in the back but she seems fine after<p>

**CageFigher:**  
>Maybe she can heal like her old man too<p>

**Racer55:**  
>Maybe<br>Me and my buds torched her place when she left with her boyfriend  
>He was a mutie too<br>He had demon eyes

**Chud03:**  
>more breeding!<p>

**Tribune:**  
>Yes it is pretty disgusting<br>Do you know her name?

**Racer55:**  
>Rogue or Marie<br>And the boyfriend was Gambit  
>I don't really know too mcuh about him except he rode a motorcycle too<br>Rogue used to race with us all the time before we found out

**Tribune:**  
>Add what you know about these guys to our database of known muties<br>The more we know, the easier it'll be to hunt them down and kill them


	8. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Logan entered Storm's office and sat down on a chair in front of her desk. Storm looked up at him from watering the plants on the window sills.

"How'd it go?" she asked, continuing to water her plants.

"All that searching and cross-referencing of Sinister's files has paid off," Logan replied with a nod. "They're there, all right. I could smell the Marauders before I even got to the door."

"No one saw you?"

"Course not."

"Good," Storm said with a nod.

Logan watched her as she set her watering can aside and sat down.

"What you thinking, 'Ro?" he asked.

"The Marauders are good. Very good," Storm said slowly. "More to the point, they have a lot of experience with fighting dirty and killing, which we do not."

Logan nodded. He did his best as a teacher of course, but there were some things his students—the younger X-men in particular—couldn't do, whether it be not yet or not ever.

"Which is why we've decided to play things smart," Logan said.

"Yes," Storm said with a nod. "Logan... Hank didn't have the skill to take care of Scott's injuries, so he called in a surgeon who did. When he knew what had gone wrong with Kitty, but couldn't do anything about it, he called in someone who could. I think what we really need right now is to bring in someone who has a lot of experience in breaking valuables out of highly secure places."

Logan sat up in his chair, his eyes squarely on Storm's.

"You want to call in Gumbo," he said.

"He's the best Thief in the entire Thieves Guild," she said seriously. "We can't send Kitty back in, and we can't risk sending Kurt in alone. We have no ideas about how we're going to get into this place while not only Sinister's inside, but half his Marauders as well. If anyone can figure this one out, it's Remy."

"Would he do it, though? Steal a kid instead of a painting?"

"In this case? Yes, because it's me asking, and because we want to return Nate to his parents," Storm said firmly.

Logan nodded. "Guess you'd better make the call then."

"Right."

Storm took a deep breath as she pulled out her phone, feeling a little nervous about this. She had never imagined, not even for a moment, that she would ever have reason to contact Gambit in a professional capacity. She found his number in her phone's contact list and hit the appropriate button to ring him up. While the phone rang, she mentally geared herself up for the conversation, and then groaned when she got his voicemail instead.

_"Bonjour, you have reached Gambit's voicemail. If this is Emil or Etienne, joke's over guys, if you don't lay off the 'king' quips I'm going to appoint you both 'court jesters'. If it's anyone else, leave a message, and I might even get back to you."_

"Hi Remy, this is Storm. I can't believe I'm saying this but... I need to hire the Thieves Guild."

* * *

><p><strong>To Be Continued in <em>Hand Over My Body<em>...**

Thanks as always to all my wonderful reviewers. I hope everyone who read the story enjoyed it.


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